Justice League Next Generation
by LordFrieza
Summary: Continued from Last Night this is the Story of the children of the Justice League...
1. Chapter 1

_**(A/N: I want to take a moment and explain that this story is set between chapter fourteen and fifteen of Last Night. The story will continue after that chapter, but it is important to know this so that if you feel confused about the story itself you really should go back and read Last Night before reading this one. Thanks.)**_

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 1 'A world without Superman'**_

(Small Ville Kansas: Kent Farm – Hay loft.)

Kal Kent looked at the girl with him. Amber West looked so much like her mother Linda except that she had copper red hair and green eyes. The two of them had been best friends since either could really remember. Amber, her brother Johnny, Their dad Wally, and their mom Linda had been coming to visit his mom every year he could remember. Of course since Johnny and Amber was twins they would barely separate. But this year Johnny was too busy writing his girlfriend Mary to really take any time to spend with Kal or Amber. Of course to Kal this was just fine since he really got to take in how beautiful Amber was.

"What?" Amber asked as she lay across a bale of hay.

"Nothing, I feel kind of stupid." Kal said as he sheepishly smiled and ran his fingers through his hair unconsciously.

"Now I really want to know. Tell me please." Amber pleaded batting her eye lashes and smiling as Kal tried his hardest not to notice.

"I just… I just never realized how pretty you are." Kal answered honestly as he tried to look anywhere but Amber's brilliant green eyes.

Amber blushed for a moment before she got up quicker than Kal had ever seen anyone move before and kissed him gently on the lips before she stepped back and tripped over a bale behind her. She landed with a thud on the old boards of the barn and let out a small laugh.

"Heh… Am I still pretty when I'm clumsy?" She asked trying to play off her embarrassment.

"Yes." Kal said before he could think.

Amber looked at him again and a small happy smile crossed her lips. She felt Kal help her up and looked again into his eyes.

"You're really handsome. I guess I didn't notice it before either. Kind of hard to notice it though when the three of us are trying to sneak out of old man Peterson's field after going cow tipping." She said as a blush covered her cheeks.

"Kal! Amber! Dinner!" Came the voice of Lois Lane-Kent as she called off of the front porch.

"Guess we better get down there." Kal said as he walked toward the latter and slipped. Amber ran faster than she ever had and looked to see Kal floating above the floor. He looked up at her and instead of looking frightened she stared at him in awe. She moved toward him slowly and saw how he simply floated above the ground.

"Wow.." She said as she looked at him.

"You're… You're not afraid?" Kal asked.

"No… That is so COOL! You're just like Superwoman! Except, you know, that you're not a woman obviously." Amber said as she stammered for a second.

"Have you ever seen what this place looks like from the sky?" Kal asked as he looked at her.

"No…" She started to say before she felt him pick her up and they both shot out of the barn door and lifted high into the air.

Amber hugged onto him for dear life afraid to look down or look anywhere else but his neck and chest.

"Don't be scared. I'm not going to drop you." Kal said softly.

"I just… I really don't like heights." Amber answered sheepishly.

Smiling with understanding Kal began lowering the both of them to the ground. Amber looked at him again and this time she looked as though she was really seeing him for the first time. Kal stood there uncertain of what was going to happen before Amber kissed him deeply. For several seconds they stood there in the light of dusk until the both of them heard a forced cough from Kal's mother.

"Like I said… Dinner." Lois said as she watched both teenagers walk toward the porch.

As they passed her Lois smiled slightly. It was nice to see Kal falling in love with someone. She turned around and walked inside to see Wally setting the table with Linda's help.

"You know the both of you don't have to do that." Lois said as she walked toward the large dining room table.

"Nonsense we're staying and eating your food. It's the least we can do. By the way have you seen Johnny?" Wally asked as he looked around.

(Grayson house - Jameston NewYork – One hour from New York City)

Mary Grayson closed the back door of her family's two story victorian style house and walked out into the yard. Johnny had said that he was going to meet her in her back yard and no sooner had she stepped six feet out past the back porch then she saw him quickly leap over the fence and land softly on the grass. Smiling she ran toward him and caught him up in a sering kiss.

"God I missed you." She said as she looked lovingly into his eyes.

"I missed you too Mary. You know if dad knew that I was here instead of back at the Kent Farm he would want pitch a fit." Johnny said as the two walked toward a bench and sat down together.

"Have you thought about it?" Johnny asked.

"I've told mom that I've applied to go to Central City College. She's a little disappointed that I don't want to go to NYU. I think that she wanted to take me shopping while was I was in college. Sort of a mother daughter thing." Mary said as she looked at the way Johnny's face appeared in the light of dusk.

"I'm sure that she could still take you shopping in Central City." Johnny said.

"What's that?" Mary asked.

"What's what?" Johnny asked.

Not more than three seconds after he asked did he hear a soft thud behind him. He turned to see his father standing there dressed in his costume.

"Oh man…" Johnny said.

"Mary." Wally said.

"Hi Mr. West…. Please don't get mad at Johnny I asked to see him. I just miss him." She said as she looked at him.

"I should be mad at both of you. Johnny you ran here from Lois' house. That's stupid! If anyone saw you they would know who you are!" Wally said as he stared down his son.

Within seconds the back door opened to the house and Galatea stood there holding a robe closed and looking at Mary and then at Johnny.

"Wally." She said before she looked at her daughter.

"Mom I can explain." She started before her mother narrowed her eyes at her.

"You could have and might have endangered Johnny and his entire family. Go inside and wait. Your father will be down in a second to tell you exactly what kind of punishment you can expect." Galatea said as she looked at her daughter.

"I'm not a little girl anymore! You can't just punish me!" Mary shouted.

"Excuse me." Galatea said before she grabbed Mary by the wrist and pulled her over her knee.

"You're acting like a little girl so should I go ahead and spank you in front of your boyfriend like you are one, or are you going to go inside and wait?" Galatea asked.

"I'm going…" Mary said in defeat

Galatea let her up and Mary turned to Johnny with an 'I'm sorry' look. She then walked inside of the house and left her mother standing outside with Wally and Johnny.

"Wally do you need me to fly you both back?" Galatea asked.

"No, I brought Johnny's 'running' suit. But if he can borrow your bathroom to change that would help." Wally said.

"Of course." Galatea said before she lead them both into the house.

"third door on the left like always Johnny." Galatea said.

Johnny walked past the room where Mr. Grayson walked into. He stopped to listen for a second.

"That was so stupid Mary! Do you even realize how much danger you may have put Johnny's entire family in? Grounded from T.V. and going anywhere isn't going to cut it this time. You are grounded. You can't go out on any dates with Johnny, no movies, no going out to eat with friends, no where except for school, home, and training on the watchtower. Do you understand?" Dick Grayson asked.

"Daddy that's not fair!" Mary said

Johnny looked in to see Mr. Grayson standing there in a pair of sweat pants and a teeshirt. Mary was attempt to show a little pout and get her father to let her off easy.

"Don't even try it. And Johnny you better go ahead and get changed right now." Dick said as he faced Mary.

Johnny stepped back and ran toward the bathroom. He didn't know how Mr. Grayson did that, but it scared the hell out of him.

(twenty – five minutes later – Wayne Manor)

Bruce answered the phone after the second rang.

"Hello." He barked the answer.

"Hi Bruce." Dick said.

"Dick, how's the family?" Bruce asked.

"Fine, except that Wally's son and my daughter did something stupid." Dick answered.

Bruce rubbed the bridge of his nose and sat down in a chair.

"What the hell did they do?" Bruce asked.

"Mary convinced Johnny to 'run' out and see her. He was at the Kent's farm." Dick said.

"I see. I'll check the net and see if anyone has taken a pitcher of a blurr and posted it. Talk to you later Dick." Bruce said as he stood and began walking toward the cave. He stopped when he heard a soft moan.

_Thomas don't be this stupid. _Bruce thought as he opened the den to see Kiva Stewart and Thomas on the couch.

"Thomas." Bruce said eveningly.

Thomas sat up and Bruce saw Kiva quickly cover herself.

"Bruce what is the commotion?" Diana asked as she looked at the situation.

"THOMAS!" she roared as she looked at her son.

"I…. I'm really sorry Mr. Wayne!" Kiva stuttered out as she looked at how angry Diana appeared to be.

"Stay there. We're going to call your parents." Bruce said.

Kiva's face suddenly became covered with worry, but Thomas put his arm around her and held her close. Kiva's wings folded in slightly.

"My mom is going to kill me." Kiva said as she sat there.


	2. Young Trouble

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 2 'Young Trouble'**_

(Wayne Manor – Den – forty –five minutes later)

Shayera stood looking at her daughter with her arms crossed. Kiva had seen her mom upset before, but this was different. This wasn't being upset, but it was more of being disappointed. She walked into the room followed by Kiva's father John and the two of them sat down across from Bruce and Diana.

"Kiva how long have you and Thomas been going out?" Shayera asked trying to keep her voice straight.

"Three… three months." Kiva said with uncertainity in her voice.

"Did you at least think to use protection?" Shayera asked.

"Ummmm." Kiva started and then looked at the ground.

"So, no. Kiva I am so disappointed. You have a bright future ahead of you. You're at the top of your class. You are graduating highschool a good two years ahead of everyone else. Why are you doing something like this?" Shayera asked before she looked at John who looked like his hands would remained balled into fists.

"I love him!" Kiva shouted then quickly looked back toward the floor when John looked at her. He then looked at Thomas.

"What are your intentions with my daughter." John asked as he tried his best to sound neutral.

"I love Kiva. Mr. Stewart you know that I would never do anything to disrespect her." Thomas began before a glare from his father silenced him.

"Both of you wait right here in separate chairs. We're going to step out and speak privately. I expected more out of you." Bruce said to Thomas before he stood up and walked out with Diana. They waited for John and Shayera to walk out ahead of them and followed.

"What are they going to be talking about?" Kiva asked.

"Knowing my dad… sending us both through the gaultlet on the Watchtower for about six days straight." Thomas said as he leaned back and groaned.

(Wayne Manor – Hall outside of the den)

"What are we going to do here?" Shayera asked both Diana and Bruce.

"If we try to push them away from each other they're only going to fight it to stay together. We need to put restrictions where we can." Bruce said.

"I can't believe those two." Diana said as she looked toward the den.

"With Thomas being seventeen there is a couple more problems we have to worry about." Bruce said as he looked at John.

"I'm not going to file anything Bruce. I know Thomas and while he can be a little nuts he has been nothing but respectful to my family. I just really wish that we would have gotten to know that they where dating each other before now." John said as he looked at both Bruce and Diana.

(In the Den)

Thomas noticed how worried Kiva looked. He walked over and pulled her into an embrace and held her for a few seconds.

"Hey, it's all going to be alright." He said as he held her.

"I'm just scared… What if… I mean what if I'm… Oh God I didn't even think about it." Kiva said as she hugged him back tightly.

"If you are we'll get through it together." Thomas said before the door opened and the forced cough from Kiva's father caused the two to separate.

"Sit down both of you." Diana said with an authoritarian voice.

"We've talked and there is a few things going to happen." Bruce stated as he looked at the two teenagers.

"First we're not going to stop you from seeing each other." Shayera said as she looked at the two teenagers.

"Second, after we take you to the doctor and make sure that you're not pregnant you're going on birth control." John said as he looked at his daughter.

Kiva's face softened and then her eyes opened a little wider.

"Oh God… Victoria and Olivia are never going to let me live this down." Kiva said as slumped into the chair.

"You have worse things to think about than what Helena's and Dinah's daughters think of you." Shayera said as she narrowed her eyes at her daughter.

"Thomas… We're going to have a little talk." Diana said as she looked at her son.

Thomas got up and followed his mother out of the room and toward the grandfather clock. He knew exactly what this meant. She wanted to talk and more than likely make him train while they talked. The moment they reached the bottom of the steps Diana flicked on a switch which lit up the training mat.

"Grab your training sword." Diana said as she walked onto the mat and stood in her blue jeans and tee-shirt.

"Mom you're not really dressed for this." He said as he grabbed the training sword off of the rack and walked onto the mat with Diana.

Diana lunged at him and started with a basic mid swipe. Thomas quickly blocked it and felt his mother force him into the wall a little harder than she normally would.

"Do you love her?" Diana asked as she pinned her son only to feel him force her back.

"Yes." Thomas said as he kicked Diana back and tried to move around her only to find her taking another swipe at him. He raised the sword again to block the attack and found that his mother had obviously been holding back before.

"Are you prepared to do what is the right thing, not only by her family, but by her as well?" Diana asked as she placed a foot behind his ankle and dragged it back making him lose balance.

He landed with a thud, but quickly recovered and kicked at his mother's knee before he rolled out of the way of her sword strike. He stood, quickly crouched and then leaped at her holding his sword ready to swing down in front of him. Diana blocked, but felt her own sword falter for a moment.

"I'm not going to stop being with her if she becomes pregnant. I love her too much for that." Thomas said as he looked at his mother.

Diana smiled warmly and stood. She pulled Thomas into a hug and held him there for several moments.

"It's hard for me to realize how grown you are. You are my youngest and to know that you are becoming an adult… There are times that I wish I could have kept you a child forever." Diana said as she released him.

"Go upstairs and wait." She said.

"Princess." Came the baritone voice she had expected to hear at any time.

"I still can never tell when you come into a room." Diana said as she looked at the empty place on the training mat.

"Was your talk productive?" Bruce asked as he stepped closer.

"Our son is growing up." She said with a sigh.

"We've done the best we can. It's up to him on how he go on now." Bruce said.

"I just wish that I could have had a few more years." She said softly.

"We all do. I'm sure your mother felt the same when you grew up." Bruce said as he put his hand on her shoulder.

(Metropolis – Luthor Corp Head Quarters)

Lexington Luthor II looked at his sister as she sat across from him admiring her nails and their newest color.

"So tell me brother how is the cure for cancer going?" She asked as she smirked.

"I'm having the R&D department rework everything. Instead of the quicker easier cure it will keep current medication and treatments in use. Although the serum we've developed will be sold to the populist just in a much smaller dose. Requiring a lifetime of taking it to keep certain cancers from reforming." Lexington said as he smirked.

"Mmmmm… Father would be proud. Well he would be if we hadn't of killed him. Now, how about my toy?" Alexandra asked as she smiled at her half brother.

"You are insatiable aren't you?" He asked as he smirked at her.

"Damn it get him released! I want him now!" Alexandra said as she narrowed her eyes at her brother.

"You know your sexual appetite had better not land either of us back in prison. I didn't enjoy having to wait to get out." Lexington said as he looked at his sister.

"Oh Boohoo. Now get my toy out like you promised." Alexandra said as she drummed her fingers on the desk.

(Stryker's Island – release station) Two guards stood in front of the prisoner as they lead him toward front Gate. Standing near the exit was an older guard who looked hard at the prisoner. "Jason Todd you have been released since someone was willing to pay for your bail. Upon release you are to meet with a parole officer once a week. You may not leave the Metropolis area. If you violate either of these stipulations then you will be returning to us. Do you understand?" The older Guard asked. "Completely. Now get out of my way." Jason said as he walked toward a car waiting for him. "Madam Luthor is anxiously awaiting you sir." The man driving said as Jason got comfortable in the back seat. "Then by all means take me to Madam Luthor." Jason said with a smirk on his face. (Grayson house - Master Bedroom) Galatea curled up next to Dick as they lay in bed. She felt his arms around her and she smiled as she felt him kiss her neck. "Dick… We… Oh we need to talk…" She said hating that she was stopping what would be a wonderful session of love making. "What is it sweetheart?" he asked as he held her. "Mary's wanting to go to Central City for college. I'm glad she's going, but doesn't that sound pretty far away?" She asked trying not to sound too concerned. "She's growing up Gala. I love her too, but there is really no stopping her growing up." Dick said as he felt Galatea shift slightly and turned to face him. "I don't want her too…" Galatea said as she leaned her head against his chest. "I know, but she'll be alright and so will we." He said as he kissed her forehead. "Besides you know we could try again." He said wanting to cheer her up. "Would you really feel like raising another one or two?" She asked. "As long as they turn out as great as these two have. Besides I've already seen them smile, and it looks just like yours." He said as he rubbed her back. "You know exactly what to tell me to make me feel better. I love you Dick." She said as she kissed him deeply. 


	3. Early Mission

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 3 'Early Mission'**_

(Kent Farm – The following Day)

Kal looked at the fence roll he was setting up for Granny Kent. She had bribed him and Amber with a platter of homemade chocolate chip cookies if he would get it done before supper. Amber looked at Kal as he grabbed a post and placed it on the ground. He grabbed the old steel post driver and tapped it down on top of the post. To Amber's surprise he sent the post down two feet into the ground with the first tap.

"Wow." Amber said as she looked at him.

"What?" He asked as he looked back at her.

"I've never seen that before. Are you like secretly related to Superwoman?" Amber asked.

"No, Superwoman is from Krypton. Far as I know I'm a normal vanilla human." He said as he grabbed another fence post.

Amber watched as he grabbed the barbed wire with his bare hands and pulled it tight. She noticed that it never once cut into him. She hated to do this, but she grabbed the barbed wire with him and then let go.

"Ouch!" She said as she jumped back.

"Are you alright?" Kal asked as he looked at her.

He looked to see the bleeding wound from the barbed wire on her hand and then looked at his own hand. There was nothing there showing that he had been pulling barbed wire.

"Maybe you need to talk to your mom." Amber said as she looked at Kal.

Before they started back Kal took his plain white tee-shirt and tore a sleeve off of it. He ripped the sleeve apart and wrapped it around Amber's hand. She smiled lightly at him and the two of them walked back toward the farm house. Kal could see his mother sitting on the front porch. In her hands she was holding something.

Lois sat on the old wooden swing on the front porch of the farmhouse. For the last almost eighteen years she had lived here and worked as a rural correspondent for the Daily Planet. Of course that actually boiled down to working for the Small Ville times, but both papers was owned by Wayne Enterprises. Her mind wasn't on where she worked, but instead it was on the love of her life. She held the emblem from his uniform and felt tears creeping up on her. Her father's words about crying being a weakness was far away from her. Crying for Clark wasn't a weakness. It was respect for the man who had shown her more love, compassion, and passion in their short time together than she had ever seen before. She didn't even register her son standing there for several seconds.

"Mom!" Kal shouted.

"Oh… Oh sorry sweetie. I was a million miles away." Lois said as she looked at her son.

"What's that?" Kal asked.

"It's… God I knew this day was coming, I just hoped that it would be longer away." Lois said as she looked at the ground.

Behind Lois Granny Kent walked out and looked at Kal and then at the emblem in Lois' hands. A small knowing smile crossed her lips and she took a seat next to Lois.

"Dear sit down. There is no doubt that you know about your friend's abilities. But you need to know more about your own. Your father… my son Clark was special. The world loved him, but they loved him in a way that you love a figure. You see…" Martha Kent started before Lois took Martha's hand and then looked at Kal.

"What do you know about Superman?" Lois asked him.

"He was one of the greatest heroes to walk the Earth. He stopped that thing in Colorado that would have tore through the world and killed every living thing." Kal said as he looked at them.

"Kal, Clark your father was Superman. I haven't wanted to tell you, and neither has your grandmother. I was there when he faced that thing. I saw what happened to him, and I don't want it to happen to you." Lois said as she looked at her son.

"My dad… My dad was Superman? Wait… I'm… I'm part Kryptonian?" He exclaimed.

(Jameston – Grayson house – Downstairs 'rec' room)

Olivia Queen smiled as she leaned over the polished pool table and sunk the eight ball. She looked toward Hermes Grayson with a cocky grin and pressed a fire to her hip.

"Ouch, am I hot or what H?" She asked as strutted over toward him.

"I'll agree that you are hot with a pool cue, but I haven't began to play yet Ms. Queen." Hermes said as he began gathering the billiard balls and setting them up.

"What do you say we raise the stakes?" He asked as he finished.

"Raise the stakes how?" Olivia asked as she looked at him.

"Loser has to go on a date with the winner. A date to where ever the winner wants to go no questions asked." Hermes said as he smiled at Olivia.

Olivia wasn't going to tell him that if he just smiled like that at her she would agree to go anywhere with him. The boy was gorgeous with a capital G. Instead she decided to play his game and thought about forcing him to take her to a nice romantic dinner.

"You're on." She said as she got ready to break.

She smiled as she launched the cue ball and watched it hit the other billiard balls. They separated out, but none of them went into the holes. She watched Hermes start slow and choose his shots. In less than five minutes he had sunk every striped ball and then he lined up the eight ball.

"Still on right?" He asked.

"I don't break my word H." She said as she looked at him.

Hermes smiled as he sunk the eight ball and turned toward her. He walked over to the counter and picked up a menu. Olivia felt her heart start to sink as she thought that he was going to order in Chinese again and that would be the date. Chinese food in front of the television. Instead Hermes moved the menu and pulled something else out.

"Dad's visiting Grandpa Bruce tomorrow. I'm going to go along, and if your parents are alright with it… I thought that we could have dinner in Gotham Caverns. I already made reservations. It cleared out my pay check from working at Wok's for the next two weeks, but… I would really like to take you there." Hermes said as he looked at her.

He didn't know what to expect, but suddenly he felt two arms around his neck and a pair of lips pressing against his own.

"I love you! Victoria is going to be so jealous!" Olivia squealed.

(Area 51 – Nevada Desert)

After the death of Dirctor Dirk Diggler the military installation known as Area 51 became overseen by Cadmus. Amanda had personally seen to everything that Diggler worked on was buried and if possible destroyed. She however didn't know about her own creation that Diggler had resurrected and locked away without a mind. Even though it had no thought inside of its head the hate it had toward every living thing festered. And after years of being locked away it began to move.

_Hurt, kill, kill, move, kill. _The simple thoughts began to gather in its mind. Slowly its hands began to move testing the restraints.

(Watchtower – Training Room deck 3)

Thomas stood in his armor as he faced the bots coming toward him. He was dressed in black, but the armor didn't look like Batman's instead it looked like something of a mix of ancient Greek and modern armor. He heard the door open and the exercise stopped.

"You've been screwing around with my sister." Came the voice of Rex Stewart.

"What I've been doing with my girlfriend is my business." Thomas answered.

"No 'Juggernaut' it's not. She's my sister and that makes it my business." Rex said as he narrowed his gaze at Thomas.

"I'm not going to stop dating Kiva Rex, so just back off." Thomas said.

Thomas looked at Rex for a moment and then started to turn. When he did Rex unleashed a powerful right hook and hit Thomas square in the jaw. The powerful punch caused the half Amazon to stumble before he turned and glared at Rex.

"If you hurt her then you are going to get far worse than that." Rex said as he glared back at Thomas.

(Monitoring room for the training room.)

Hippolyta looked at her little brother as he was confronted by Rex. She stood up and walked down to the training room. She opened the door and walked straight over to the two of them. They began to argue before a powerful kick to their stomachs stopped them and both of them fell on their asses.

"Boys, kiss and make up." Hippolyta said as she stood there her hands resting on her hips.

"Hey I didn't do anything." Thomas said.

"You took my sisters… Damn it I don't want to think about it, but you know exactly what you did!" Rex growled.

"Thomas?" Hippolyta asked.

"I didn't take anything. We love each other." He said simply.

"I would suggest you talk to your sister as well Mr. Stewart." Hippolyta said as she helped Rex up.

"Lyta… I'm sorry." Rex said as he looked at the girl before him.

Hippolyta looked at him and smiled.

"It's fine Rex. Just don't rush into something before you know the facts. It's actions like that which will get you kicked out of college if you aren't careful." Hippolyta said as she smiled at Rex and then started to walk out.

"Should I start defending my sister's honor?" Thomas asked as a joke.

Hippolyta turned around and walked directly over to Thomas. She poked her finger into his chest and narrowed her eyes at him.

"For your information buster I've never done anything, and if I did it would be none of your business who I did it with!" Hippolyta said before she turned back around and shook her head.

"Brothers, why goddess Athena why did you curse me with a brother instead of another sister?" Hippolyta asked as she walked out the door.

"To be honest… I would date your sister in a second if I thought that I could." Rex said as he watched Hippolyta walk away, "Say where is your other sister Athena?" Rex asked.

(Themyscira – Training grounds)

Athena looked at Philippus as the older Amazon circled her. She held her broad sword in hand and waited for the moment to strike. When Philippus came at her Athena moved back, quickly stepped in and brought her broad sword up to Philippus' neck. Philippus chuckled and backed away from the girl.

"I would say that I am surprised, but you are your mother's daughter." Philippus said as she stretched and popped her back.

"Speaking of which mom hasn't told me why I needed to come and train on the island." Athena said as she looked at Philippus.

"Your mother has requested that you receive the same training she received because she plans on having you help her in man's world." Philippus stated.

"I already help. I go on missions and have fought some of the strongest scum on earth. I don't see the reason for all of this." Athena stated.

"Has your father trained you?" Philippus asked.

"He's tried, but…" Athena started to say before Philippus grinned and nodded.

"But you saw no reason for the training since you have been blessed with the same powers as your mother. It was not only your mother who thought that you could benefit from this training. For a man your father is very wise." Philippus stated.

(Luthor corp – Metropolis)

Lexington Luthor II looked at a file on the computer. He had escaped the sounds of passion from the room over as Alexandra was ravished by her human. The file was locked and after a few moments he got around his father's very advanced security precautions. As the file opened he looked at what was there.

"Father… This is a stroke of genius." Lexington said as he looked at the location and took note of it.

(Hidden lab – Suicide Slums – fifteen minutes later)

Lexington looked at the lab as he walked in. Before him was the designs of combining human and animal DNA to create a new hybred being. Of course the new life forms also had a metallic endoskeleton which would reduce the chance of breaking bones. The applications for this was limitless. He looked at the original idea which was the grow the new beings from birth, but his father had conceived a newer idea. Children from low income areas could disappear and little would be done about it. Smiling he gathered the needed information and activated the automated equipment.

"Project Dr. Monroe is active." He said as he walked out smiling.


	4. Animal You've Become

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 4 'Animal You've Become'**_

(Gotham – Narrows – Kinsger home two weeks later)

Stacy Kinsger smiled as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her mom was working so hard to put food on the table, but last night she surprised her daughter with a Wonder Woman playset she had picked up at S'Mart. Stacy smiled brightly as she held the little golden nilon rope and twirled it around her head.

"Stacy honey did you do all of your chores?" Her mom called from down stairs.

"Yeah mom! I finished up an hour ago!" Stacy shouted as she came down stairs dressed in the red and blue bathing suit.

Her mother smiled and then looked at the clock. A slight groan escaped her lips.

"Sweetie… Mommy has to go to her second job in a few minutes. I'm going to call your baby sitter, but will you be alright for a few minutes by yourself?" Her mom asked.

"Yeah I'll be fine mom. After all I'm eight!" Stacy said proudly.

"That's my girl. Don't answer the door for anyone other Jennifer alright?" Ms. Kinsger asked.

"I know mom." Stacy said as she rolled her little blue eyes.

"Alright sweetie. Mommy loves you." Ms. Kinsger said before she turned and walked to the phone.

Stacy smiled as she ate the vegetables on her plate. Everyone knew that Wonder Woman liked vegetables. As she ate her supper Stacy heard her mom sigh and hang up the phone.

"Sweetie Jennifer can't watch you tonight. Do you mind to go over to Aunt Rachel's?" Ms. Kinsger asked.

"Okay Mommy." Stacy said as she stood up and smiled.

"Sweetie don't you want to change out of your Wonder Woman play suit?" She asked.

"No, I like looking like her." Stacy said as she stood proudly.

"Alright. Well, we'll walk over to Aunt Rachel's and then Mommy is going to go to work." Ms. Kinsger said as she walked Stacy to the front door and opened it. Ms. Kinsger closed the door and locked it behind her. She walked out into the street and began walking down toward the next block.

Stacy noticed that her mom kept looking behind her, but she didn't know why. It was really quiet tonight, and there wasn't anyone around. She saw her mom push the button for Aunt Rachel's apartment and waited for a few minutes.

"Yeah?" Came her aunt Rachel's voice over the intercom.

"Rach can you watch Stacy for me for a few hours? I got to get to work." Her mom said.

"Send the munchkin up." Rachel said before she cut off the intercom and bussed the door open.

"Mind Aunt Rachel." Her mom said.

"Okay mommy." Stacy said as she went in.

Ms. Kinsger kissed her daughter on the forehead and hurried down the street. Stacy walked up to Aunt Rachel's apartment and knocked on the door.

"Come in munchkin." Her aunt said before she unlocked the door.

Stacy walked in and smiled at her Aunt Rachel.

"Well aren't you all spiffy looking. Lets see who are you supposed to be?" Rachel asked her niece knowing it was going to get the little girl's goat.

"I'm Wonder Woman!" Stacy said.

"Well Wonder Woman how would you like to watch the new Percy Jackson movie?" Rachel asked.

"Oh Boy! When can we?" Stacy asked.

"Right now works. Let me call Carl over at the video place and have him run us a copy over." Rachel said as she smiled.

(Carl's video – and convince store)

Carl looked at the figure standing before him. The man was dressed like one of those villains he had seen on the television. He started to reach for his gun, but the man quickly shot out a red X that caught his arm and plastered it to the wall.

"Don't do something stupid." Red X said.

"What do you want?" Carl asked.

"I'm here doing an errand for my boss." Red X said as the phone rang.

"Answer it, and put it on speaker." Red X said as he looked at Carl.

"Carl's video." Carl said as he looked at the costumed criminal in the room with him.

"Carl this is Rachel. Look I'm watching my niece tonight. Do you mind to bring over a copy of Percy Jackson? There might be a little something in it for you tomorrow." Rachel said with a husky voice.

Red X nodded and Carl swallowed slightly, "Sure I'll be right over." Carl said.

"Grab the movie, don't make any sudden moves, and I promise you'll live to deliver the video." Red X said as released Carl from the X holding him.

(Twenty minutes later outside of Rachel's apartment)

Rachel opened the apartment door and looked as Carl tried to warn her. Suddenly Carl's head turned around backwards and a hand shot out toward her. She tried to cry out, but instead she found a red X on her mouth and just below her nose. Soon another covered her torso and she fell to the floor helpless.

Red X smiled until he felt a nylon rope cover his arms. He turned to look at a little girl dressed as Wonder Woman.

"Really? Oh, this is too funny." He murmured before he slipped off the rope and threw a X which caught the little girl and cause her to fall.

"Stay quiet and I won't kill your aunt." Red X said.

Stacy nodded and felt a blind fold cover her eyes. Shortly afterward something hit her on the back of the head.

(Gotham – Joker's Wild Casino)

Red X looked at the abandoned Hotel and Casino. For his uses it was just fine. He put Stacy in a room with a few other children and walked toward the laptop he set up. He turned it on and looked into the web camera. A second later Alexandra Luthor appeared.

"Jason take off that silly mask." Alexandra said.

Jason Todd removed the mask and looked at the woman who had paid for his freedom and he was having sex with on a regular bases.

"Got another one. That's six in the last two weeks. I think that I better clear out of Gotham tomorrow. It won't take too much more for the Bat to find out what's going on." Jason said as he looked at Alexandra.

"Alright head back tomorrow night. See if you can get one more. Try to get a teenager if possible. Lexington said that the older the child the faster we can market them." Alexandra said.

"Alright. I'll get one tomorrow. Say are you alone?" He asked.

"Yes." Alexandra answered.

"Good. Cause when I get back I'm going to fuck the living hell out of you." Jason said with a smirk.

Alexandra laughed slightly and shook her head.

"Get here first lover." She said before she cut off her side.

(Gotham – Across from the Ice Burg Lounge.)

Diana looked at her husband as he stood in their spot. It was obvious something was bothering him. She walked toward him and looked at him.

"Bruce?" she asked.

"Kids Diana. Children have been disappearing. At first it appears random, but there is something else to it. All of the children are coming from low income families. All of them lived in the narrows, and all of them have disappeared in the last two weeks." Bruce said as he turned toward her.

"Hera, who could be doing something like this?" She asked.

"I don't know. I already questioned Penguin. He doesn't know, so whoever it is isn't going through normal channels to do this." Bruce said as he looked at his wife.

"Let me ask him." Diana said her eyes narrowing.

"Diana, trust me. Penguin doesn't know. He knows better than to lie to me." Bruce said.

(Gotham – Fox Fire Apartments – Across from Gotham Univeristy. Twenty minutes later)

Jason stood on top of the building as he looked down at the parking lot. For the last hour he had been picking and choosing the last person he could consider taking to Alexandra and Lexington. So far it was mainly couples and he was growling with frustration. It wasn't that the last one needed to come from here, but he it would be easier to get a kid from here. More than likely they would be a little hung over, or at least exhausted and that would mean a lot less work for him. Almost ready to give up he saw a shapely brunette walking by herself toward an inner apartment he smiled as he lowered himself down.

(Near the inner apartment on the bottom floor.)

The girl's phone began to ring and after a few minutes she picked it up.

"Hi?" The girl asked

"Victoria, it's your mother." Helena said over the phone as her daughter dug for her keys.

"Hey mom, what's up?" Victoria asked cursing under her breath for letting her keys work their way to the bottom of her purse.

"I just called to see how you are getting along. Are you and your current boyfriend planning on coming by this weekend?" Helena asked.

"Mom, the last time I brought a boy home dad was convinced that he was part of the hidden boy band scheme." Victoria stated.

"To be fair he did look like he belonged to a boy band." Helena said with a small bark of laughter.

"I'll agree to that, but come on mom. I kind of enjoy going out with something that isn't plastic and requires batteries.

"You know your father would pitch a fit if he heard you talk about that." Helena replied.

"Doesn't daddy know that I haven't been able to pick out a white dress for a wedding since I was sixteen?" Victoria asked with a little sound of an amusement to her voice.

"No, and like him this isn't something that I think I want to hear either." Helena said over the phone.

"Mom you know me. I'm careful I just like boys and enjoy what they are good at. To be honest if Hermes was just a year or two older I would show him a few things that I'm good at." Victoria said with a little laugh that sounded too much like her mother's.

"So we can plan on you coming out?" Helena asked.

"Sure, I'll bring Tony by. I love… AHHHH!" Victoria screamed

"Victoria!" Helena shouted back to her.

The sounds of punching and fighting could be heard over the fallen phone. Helena knew that her daughter could fight. She had made sure that Victoria learned everything she knew, and of course Vic had taught her the ins and outs of fighting dirty when needed. But as the sounds began to sound more desperate Helena felt worry creep up on her. She knew that her daughter, wasn't going to be able to fight out of this.

"RED X!" Victoria shouted before the sound of something striking her could be heard.

Helena heard the phone being picked up and she waited for a second.

"I don't know who you are. If you are looking for Money you won't find any. What I have is a peculiar set of skills that makes me a nightmare for people like you. If you leave my daughter alone and let her go then nothing will happen and this will go no further. If you don't then there will not be a pit deep enough for you to hide in." Helena said her voice sounding hard.

"Goodluck" Jason Todd said on the other end before the sound of Victoria's phone being smashed could be heard.

(Watchtower – Atrium)

Thomas looked at the trees and brightly growing flowers around him. It was nice to see the Atrium being so well taken care of. He turned when heard someone and looked at Kiva as she came in behind him. He could see how nervous she was. He walked toward her and kissed her and felt her kiss back with so much passion he could barely describe it.

"I went to the doctor yesterday… Thomas… I'm… I'm pregnant." She said as she leaned against him and laid her head on his shoulder.

"You are?" Thomas asked a little surprised.

"The doctor said that I'm about a month along. Thomas what are we going to do?" Kiva asked as she looked at him.

"I can tell you that I'm not going to leave you." Thomas said.

He felt in his pocket and felt the promise ring he had bought to give her. He wished that he would have went for a more expensive ring, but sighed as he got on a knee making her step back a little.

"Kiva Stewart, I love you. I've always loved you and I don't want to think of my life without you. Will you marry me?" He asked as he produced the promise ring.

Kiva looked at the ring and knew that Thomas had already been planning to ask her something similar. She looked into his eyes and saw the love he had.

"I will, but Thomas please don't just do this because of the baby. If you marry me I want you to do it because you really love me." She said as he got up.

"I do love you Kiva." Thomas said before he kissed her deeply.

(Area 51 – Doomboy's cell)

The creature tore the first shackle loose and began pounding on the metal door in front of it. It's long bony spurs on its knuckles began cutting deep groves into the door. It swung again and again.

(Hybrid life forms lab – Suicide Slums – Metropolis)

Victoria awoke to the sounds of children crying. She groaned as she looked around and saw nothing but darkness. She stood and walked a few feet before she hit a steel door. She felt around and could feel no knob, level, or switch to open the door with.

"Hello?" Victoria shouted out.

"Help us!" came a small frightened voice.

"I'll try where are you at?"Victoria asked.

"In a dark place! I'm scared!" The small voice said.

"It's alright honey… It's ok, what's your name?" Victoria asked.

"Stacy… Stacy Kinsger." The voice said.

"Stacy I promise you that I will do everything I can to help get you out of here." Victoria said as she reached into her hair and found a bobby pin.

She felt along the door again and found a small plate that seemed to be covering something. Feeling along she felt a few screws and began trying to turn them with the bobby pin.

(Watchtower – Conference Room)

Victor sat in the conference room and looked at Helena. She had just told him everything that happened and he had already searched near his daughter's apartment. The sim card replayed the message and he could hear the voice clearly. He knew that Victoria had a tracking device in her purse. It was something he had demanded she carry since she planned on going to college and living away from home.

"I'm calling the council Helena. We're going to find her." Vic said


	5. Destructive Behavior

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 5 'Destructive Behavior'**_

(Watchtower – Council room)

Dinah looked at Helena and Vic after what happened was explained. She had called the inner council in on the meeting as well, and to hear that Batman was already investigating a similar series of kidnappings in Gotham lead to the consensus that this was something on a larger scale. The first thing that had crossed Dinah's mind was that the girls could be heading toward a location that would prepare them for a life as slaves. As much as she hated the idea of that the possibility was real. The one ray of hope was that Vic had Victoria keep a tracking device inside of her purse. After a few moments they pulled up the tracking device and could see it had been moving and then suddenly it seemed to stop.

Not willing to waste any more time Vic demanded to be sent down to the exact location. Behind him was Helena, Bruce, and Diana. The four of them materialized near a purse on a long stretch of highway. Bruce looked at the highway and then back at the others.

"We need to pull up a satellite scan of the area at the time her purse was thrown out. It should help us determine where they were heading in the very least." Bruce said as he looked at Vic and Helena.

"If they hurt her. If they harmed on hair on her head I will personally make them wish that they had never been born." Helena said as her eyes narrowed.

(Hidden Lab – Suicide Slums – Metropolis)

Victoria felt the small metal panel start to move, and finally it fell to the floor with a small clink. Grinning she got on her knees and felt of the space where the panel had been. From what she could feel the door was an older pressure door sort of like the ones on the Watchtower. As she felt in inside of the space her fingers brushed something and a little dim amount of light flooded in from where she seemed to have moved an old rubber stopper. She looked at the components inside of the space and began testing the wires. It seemed that nothing was going to work for several seconds, but then the door began to hiss and lift up. She smirked and began to move out of the confined space.

"Science Fiction - Double Feature Dr. X will build a creature See androids fighting Brad and Janet Ann Francis stars in Forbidden Planet Oh-oh at the late night, double feature, picture show." A voice sung out from a corner. She began moving slowly toward the other pressure doors before the owner of the voice appeared around a corner holding a pistol.

"Miss, I have to insist that you stay where you are. If you move another inch I will be forced to shoot you, and then I have to go through the trouble of patching you up, getting you healed, and then experimenting on you. So lets just save both of ourselves the trouble." The man said as he held the pistol.

"Who are you, where am I?" Victoria asked.

"Oh, do excuse me after all there is manners even in situations like this. My dear I'm an intellect far above your own, but my given name is Baxter Stockman. Dr. Baxter Stockman. And as to where you are… It's painfully obvious that this is a labatory which is involved in some rather shady and most likely illegial practices." Baxter said.

Victoria stood there for a minute before she felt a glass beaker behind her. Smirking she knew that she could throw the beaker and distract Baxter. But then he may be expecting that. She looked at the little man and noticed that he didn't look a bit worried or upset. Swallowing hard she knew the other way to get him to drop his guard.

"Have you ever been with anyone like me?" Victoria asked in the most sultry tone she could given the circumstances.

"Child, if I want you I only have to wait until after the experiments have started to get you. Now step back toward your cage." Baxter said as his finger whitened on the trigger.

"Mommy, I want my mommy!" came Stacy's voice from inside of a different room.

"Please… Don't you have any mercy?" Victoria asked.

Baxter looked at her pulled the trigger and shot a glass beaker just a few inches from her.

"Science has no mercy and neither do I." He said.

Seeing no other alternative Victoria knew that the only way out was to fight and try to escape. She ducked and another shot rang out. She hoped that Baxter Stockman was as weak as he looked and kept the tables and few columns between herself and the small scientist. She got near him and dove toward him. Her hand caught his wrist and quickly she pinched his radial nerve causing him to drop the gun. She started to hit him and knock him out before something hit her back and caused her to drop to the ground. She shook as an electrical current ran through her and then she felt a foot on her neck.

"Not real bright are you?" Asked the voice of the man who kidnapped her, "Doc should we start with her, or do you think she would benefit from watching us start with the younger ones first?" Red X asked.

"She showed concern when a younger child cried out. Lets start with them and make her watch." Baxter said as he rubbed his wrist.

Victoria found herself man handled and tied to a chair. The man who did it stopped and looked at her for a few seconds. He smirked and knelt down to her eye level.

"I got to say you are really beautiful. You know if you play your cards right I can make sure that you are last. I might even be able to let you go." Red X said.

"Go fuck yourself." Victoria said as she narrowed her eyes at him.

"Shame. It could have been fun." Red X said before he turned and left for a few seconds and then returned with a little girl wearing a Wonder Woman Playsuit.

"Dr. Stockman show her exactly what she has in store for herself." Red X said.

(Cadmus – Amanda Waller's Office)

Amanda Waller looked at the declining need of her position. It really didn't bother her as much as she had once thought it would. Originally she had believed that Cadmus going under would be a sign of the times, but instead it was quite the opposite. She looked at the picture on her desk and a small smirk of triumph crossed her lips. The world needed someone to keep the meta population honest, or at least as honest as they could be. The world needed a Batman and the McGinnis couple fit the profile perfectly. They had already had their first son, and from what she understood there was another son on the way. It had been easy to replace Warren McGinnis' reproductive DNA with that of Bruce Wayne's. She turned in her chair and looked at a flashing light indicating something happening at Area 51.

_What is going on now?_ She thought as she turned on the screen to see Doomboy ripping through the halls killing everything in his path. She a chill run up her spine as she saw the huge amounts of damages and slaughter left in the wake of Doomboy, _Oh God, Oh God not again._ The thought went through her mind as she watched him leap up like a feral animal and begin clawing the ceiling.

(Watchtower – Monitoring Womb)

Bruce looked at the satellite surveillance and checked the time and position three times before he confirmed that the vehicle carrying Victoria, and the other children most likely, was a tan cargo van. As he studied the screen he could tell that the driver was heading to Metropolis. The way the driver was choosing back roads that stayed away from the main usual highways showed a sense of intelligence.

(Metropolis Public Library – Employee lounge.)

Lara smiled as she brought a cup of hot coffee to her lips. Moving away from Perfection Valley had been the first step of setting up her new identity, the second was to take over as the guardian of Metropolis. She knew that Kal-El had worked hard to protect the city, and seeing that not all humans were like Dirk Diggler she felt compelled to become a champion like Kal-El had been even adopting his colors and shield. Of course at the moment she was at her normal day job and enjoying a little coffee before she returned to shelf shifting the youth collection. She set the coffee down when her communicator started to beep. She looked to make sure that no one else was nearby and quickly answered the communicator.

"Superwoman here." She said.

She listened as Batman filled her in on what had happened. The kidnappings, and the fact that the van had headed into Metropolis. Bile raised in her throat as she thought of her days captive in area 51. Those children was going to be done the same way. She informed him that she was going to check for any sign of the children and contact them.

"Marge, I just got a call about a minor emergency will you be alright for the rest of the day?" Lara asked as she started to get up.

"Sure thing Lara honey, take care." Marge said over the intercom.

Lara walked outside and turned down into an alley. She stopped at a small door she had found outside of the library and quickly changed into her Superwoman uniform and took off.

(Hidden Lab – Suicide Slums)

Victoria struggled against the cuffs as she heard Stacy screaming. The little girl was crying out for her mom, crying out for Victoria to help her. She looked at Red X and his mask hid his face, but somehow she knew that the sick bastard was enjoying this.

"Please let her go!" Victoria shouted toward him.

"Not my place." Red X said as he watched Stacy grow silent.

"The treatment is working." Baxter said as he stepped back and Victoria watched as Stacy's blue eyes started turning yellow. Her pupils became elongated like a cats.

"Please… I just wanna go home." Stacy whimpered as Baxter Stockman raised a long needle and pressed it hard into her arm.

"PLEASE! MOMMY!" Stacy cried out as he injected a silverish liquid into her and pressed the needle dangerously deep into her arm.

"It should take about three hours for the nanites to create the metallic superstructure around her bones. The pain should effectively remove her memories. Nothing like good old fashion trama to do the hard work for you." Baxter Stockman said as he turned toward Victoria.

"Now… I've thought long and hard about what do for you girl." Baxter said as he walked toward Victoria.

"Doc, I thought that she was going to be last." Red X said.

"Very well. Bring in another please." He said as he picked up Stacy and moved her to another bed.

"Mommy… I want my mommy." Stacy whimpered as she curled up into a ball.

(Near the lab)

Lexington Luthor smirked as he walked toward the access to the lab. He stopped and quickly pulled on a radiation protection suit as he began to open the door. He stepped inside and began to walk down the Kryptonite layered halls.

(Far above where Lexington Luthor had been)

Superwoman began to scan the area with her X-Ray vision and she noticed a large box shape under the ground in Hobb's Bay. She flew down to where it was at and could see the outline, but not the inside of the room or rooms. She traced it back to a door and tried to see through it also finding that it was impossible.

"Batman I found something, I'm uncertain of what's inside. It seems that whatever this place is it has been lead lined." Lara said as she pressed the door open and fell to the ground. The huge amount of Kryptonite causing her to moan in pain.

"Well, well, well." Red X said as he stepped out of the door and looked down at her.

"You know It's always fun to find an invincible hero become completely and totally open to attacks." He said as he kicked Lara in the stomach.

She groaned and tried to crawl away.

"Oh, no. You're not going anywhere superbitch. I still owe you for getting my ass thrown in jail." He said as he grabbed her by her hair and roughly pulled her up.

She looked at him as he struck her hard in the face and cause her to fall again. Over and over he kicked her. She moved slowly barely able to keep the energy to stay alive let alone fight. She felt him roughly lift her and throw her onto the hood of a burned out car. She looked up helpless at him.

"Always wondered what you looked like under that suit." He said as he started to rip it away. Suddenly a very powerful hand grabbed him from behind and he felt himself being pinned to the ground.

"What the fuck?" He shouted.

"Watchtower lock on to Superwoman's location and transport her directly to the medical bay." Batman barked the order.

A few seconds later Jason felt something strike the back of his head and he become completely limp.

"We don't know what to expect. Stay close and don't make a sound." Bruce said as looked at Diana, Helena, and Vic.

(Nevada – Ruins of area 51)

Doomboy stood at the now burning gas station behind him. In his hands was the lifeless body of a soldier that had tried to stop him. He looked at the limp body for a second before he tossed it to the side and looked around seeing nothing he began to walk. The creature stopped when it saw a coyote moving causiously away from it. Laughing it jumped and landed on the coyote crushing the life out of it. It looked up interested as it heard the sounds of something moving in the distance.

It began running in the direction of the sounds. As it ran it jumped sailing far into the air and then coming down hard making the earth tremble under its passing. Soon it landed in the middle of a highway and looked at the metal beasts coming toward it. Growling it ran into the largest one there causing it to bunch up and flip over. It looked around and ran into the other metal beasts crushing them and watching them explode. It smirked and looked up when a large video billboard came on.

"You Want blood? You want chaos? You Got it! Tonight only see seven men fight for the right to call themselves Champions in the Ultimate Fighting Championships only here in Las Vegas!" An announcer said as the scenes of several men fighting until they left each other bloody showed over them.

"Veeegaaasss" It said as it looked at the screen and then began running toward the place called Sin City.

(Watchtower – cafeteria)

Thomas looked at Kiva as she walked toward him. On her plate was some grapefruit, an assortment of other fruits, a few tomatoes, and a small helping of fish. He cocked an eyebrow as he looked at her.

"If I'm having a baby I need to start eating better." She said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Kiva I…" He started to say something when an alarm started going off.

"All available Leaguers and Reserve Leaguers report to the teleporter now!" Came the voice of Steel.

He quickly got up and ran with Kiva to the teleporter room to see Steel standing there.

"A few minutes ago we just entered into a Doomsday emergency. I'm sure many of you know the story of the creature that was stopped by Superman. Unfortunately that creature is still alive. From reports we have been getting it tearing through Las Vegas at this moment. We're going to be sending down in teams, but the first few teams need to possess class b or higher strength." Steel said.

Thomas looked at Kiva, and he felt himself tense with worry. He leaned over and kissed her, "Don't go." He said as he started to walk forward and stood by his sister Hippolyta, his nephew Hermes, and his niece Mary.

Kiva shot Thomas a look. He knew that telling her to stay out of it most likely wouldn't work.

_I'm not letting you face this thing on your own Thomas._ Kiva thought as she watched him disappear.

"The moment you arrive try to slow it down, and be careful." Steel said as he transported them down.

The moment they appeared he looked to see the destruction. In the distance he heard screaming and looked toward his sister.

"Powergirl, you and Nightwing see if you find survivors. Gather them up and get them both as far away as possible. Juggernaut and I are going to find this thing and keep it busy. Let's move with a purpose people." Hippolyta said as she grabbed her brother and lifted into the sky.

"Sis, why are you sending Mary and Hermes to find survivors?" Thomas asked.

"Little brother both of them are fast, strong, and have been trained by Dick, but they also tend to take after Galatea and head straight into battle without thinking at times. We can't afford to have them as a liability." She said as they saw the creature below them. They landed and Thomas looked at it as it lifted a teenage girl into the air and laughed as she cried.

"Hey Ugly! You like picking on people smaller than you! Well I'm smaller! Let's see you pick on me!" Thomas shouted at it.

The creature looked at him and threw the girl down. It growled at them both and leap toward them.


	6. A Time for War

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 6 'A Time for War'**_

(Las Vegas – Near the destruction around Doomboy)

Thomas made his way to his feet to see his sister being back handed through a casino. The monster let out a roar of laughter and jumped toward her. Already the creature had been man handling both of them. He had grabbed Thomas earlier and slammed the both of them down into the sewers. The creature had kicked him hard in the ribs and then slammed his head into the brick walls under the streets over and over again before his sister had a chance of getting it off of him. As Thomas ran he heard Hippolyta scream in pain while a sickening snapping sound echoed behind him. He looked in to see his sister crawling backward, her right leg bent at an awkward angle and the bone sticking out.

Thomas ran up behind the creature and kicked it hard in the back of the knees. It dropped her and he latched onto its neck attempting to choke it out, but instead the creature rammed itself backward into the wall and back out to the street. Thomas felt it grab one of his legs and pull hard almost pulling his calf off right at the knee. The creature held him up and punched him hard in the stomach. It dropped him and then kicked him as hard as it could sending him into a small hotel. He felt the stucco walls give way and he flew through the first two rooms and stopped when a steel beam caught him. He could feel his vision blurring and felt the back of his head. His hand moved back to the front to show his fingers covered in blood. He stood and looked at the creature barreling toward him. It let out a roar and caught him in the stomach with another hard left sending Thomas out into the street. When Thomas landed he noticed that the creature had been doing this to his sister and himself with one basically tied behind its back by some kind of strange looking shackle.

"Juggernaut!" Nightwing shouted as he flew toward the creature and hit it as hard as he could.

Thomas felt glad to see Hermes and watched as the creature's full attention fell upon his 'cousin'. It grabbed the son of Dick Grayson and Galatea and slammed him hard into the ground. Hermes grabbed its foot as it came down and held it there for a second. The creature stepped back and growled lightly.

"Now back off." Hermes said in a dark harsh voice. The creature looked to almost step back, but instead it slammed its foot down as hard as it could driving Hermes into the ground.

For several seconds it appeared that the creature was going to kill them all before Thomas heard something.

"Get the fuck away from my son!" Galatea screamed as she flew toward the creature and hit it as hard as she could.

"Hermes, Thomas get Hippolyta and get out of here." Galatea said as she unleashed her heat vision at full blast on the creature.

"But…" Thomas started before she held up her hand.

"That thing killed Superman. I'm not going to let it hurt either of you anymore. Get out!" She shouted as she continued to unleash her heat vision on it.

Thomas grabbed Hermes and helped him to his feet. They walked toward where Hippolyta had been to find Powergirl already helping her aunt as much as she could. Thomas turned around and looked to see the creature coming toward Galatea as hard as it could. He looked at Hermes who nodded and they both turned to Hippolyta and Powergirl.

"Get Hippolyta to the Watchtower now." Thomas said as he started back toward the creature.

(Hidden Lab – Suicide Slums)

Bruce checked the doorway and made sure that no other traps except those to stop Kryptonians was present. If he was to guess this was a throw back from the original Lex's days. That meant that whatever was going on more than likely had been something that Luthor never got around to doing. Bruce pushed the door open and Helena gasped as she looked at her daughter cuffed and tied to a chair. As the door opened a little more a shot rang out and struck the door frame.

"I thought you said this lab wouldn't be compromised." Baxter Stockman said as he backed up and fired the gun again.

"Baxter remember who pays you." Lexington Luthor the II said as he looked at the heroes.

"There is no time to do much other than take leave. I have desire for another prison sentence." Lexington said as he grabbed Baxter and the both of them headed deeper into the lab.

"You have a couple of choices Justice league. Chase us down or save the children in here." Lexington said as the sound of something beeping could be heard.

Diana looked at a monitor on the wall and it showed a countdown.

"He's got it rigged to blow. Everyone spread out and find the missing children and get out." Bruce said as they began to run into the lab.

Diana spotted a girl laying on a table dressed in a little play suit that looked like the uniform she wore. She picked the girl up and felt how heavy she was.

"Mommy…" The girl gasped out slowly.

"Hera… Don't worry little one we will get you out of here." She said as she hugged the little girl close.

She heard the sounds of several pressure doors opening and Diana looked to see what had to be twenty or thirty children. Her heart went out to them and to their mothers. She knew that for these children to have been missing had to put their parents through so much.

"Princess, we need to move now." Bruce said as he carried two children who seemed to be in the same state the little girl she held was in.

Diana nodded and soon all of them including the children had been moved outside. When they reached the outer doors Diana was surprised to see a large transport waiting on them. She looked to see Bruce smirking.

"You always think of everything don't you?" Diana said.

"Wonder Woman can you read me?" a voice crackled in her com link.

"This is Wonder Woman." Diana replied.

"Diana there is a Doomsday emergency in Las Vegas. The thing that killed C… Killed Superman is loose there. Thomas is trying to stop it…" John's voice said over the com link. She heard him say that Galatea and Hermes was there with him, but all that really sunk in was that her son was facing a creature that could, and most likely would kill him. She didn't wait to help load the children into the transport instead she took off toward Vegas as fast as she could fly.

(Vegas – Near where Thomas, Hermes, Hippolyta, and Mary had all been transported to.)

John Stewart looked around as he surveyed the damage. He looked behind him as he heard the chirping sounds of the transporter and saw Kiva appear. He narrowed his eyes at her and was ready to demand that she head back to the watchtower when a huge creature rushed past them carrying Galatea and Thomas in each hand. He saw it slam both of them hard into the ground and John watched as it lifted Thomas again and the limp way the boy hung in the air told him more than he wanted to know. He constrated on the creature and unleashed a huge blast from his ring. The creature was knocked several feet from Thomas and turned around to see John standing there aiming the ring and unleashing another powerful blast from it.

"THOMAS!" Kiva screamed as she ran toward him.

She didn't hear her dad yell for her. She didn't see the creature as it moved past her toward her father. All she saw was the broken body of the man that had asked her hand in marriage. She knew it would be a couple of years before they actually married, but here, the man that was already her husband in her heart laid unmoving, barely breathing, and hanging on to life by a thread.

"No… Thomas don't do this." She said as she touched his face. The bruising and cuts from the creature covered him.

"I'm going to get you out of here." She whispered as she stood up.

"Watchtower – transport Juggernaut straight to the medical unit." She said as she turned around and raised a mace much like her mothers.

"AHHHHHH!" She screamed as she raised the mace in the air and leaped toward the creature.

She felt her mace slam into the back of the creature. She tried to jump away before it could grab her, but instead it's huge hand found her arms and pulled her up toward it. It growled at her and reached back to strike her. She closed her eyes waiting for it to unleash its rage upon her when she felt herself drop and opened her eyes to see her father and Thomas' mother fighting the thing.

"I'll teach you to touch my son!" Diana roared with rage as she slammed her fist into the creature's face knocking it back.

(Several hundred feet from the area.)

Waller looked at the creature fighting the Justice League. At one time she would have let it finish them off, but over the years she had come to understand the importance of the league itself as long as it had safeguards like Batman in it. She looked at the soldiers next to her. There was a huge sense of dread come over her as she wondered what would happen if the league fell. There was no other choice than to help the league, and to make good on the mistake she had made so long ago with creating Doomboy and Doomsday.

"Fire the matter Munchers." She said as she watched the devices Diggler had create warm up and then blast the creature in the back.

She smirked as the weapons hurt the creature only to watch it turn toward them angrily. It backhanded the Green Lantern and began running toward them.

"Fire on full power!" Waller shouted.

"That was full power! The creature…. The machines are reading it's atomic structure is too dense! They can't break it down!" one of the soldiers shouted.

_Oh my god he's evolved! _Amanda thought as fear flooded through her. She stepped back, but the creature was already there. The men fired with the matter munchers again slowing it down and making it howl with pain, but the devices wasn't stopping it.

Galatea stood and saw that Cadmus was attempting to help stop the creature. She flew toward it and felt herself drop a little. She was hurt, and hurt bad. Inside it felt like everything was on fire. She wanted to scream, and maybe she did as she flew. She landed and stumbled. She looked at the creature and unleashed her heat vision on it again. This time however something began to happen. The creature screamed as her heat vision and the matter munchers began to eat through it. She smirked as relief began to flood over her for a moment before she fell forward.

Hermes looked to see his mom fall and flew toward her. He reached her and dispite the pain he was in he lifted her up.

"Mom?" he said as he looked into her eyes.

"My boy… Did you know that you're special? Diana… her gods… gave… you… to…" She said before she became limp in his arms.

"MOM!" Hermes screamed as he held her.


	7. The Price we Pay

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 7 'The Price we Pay'**_

(Watchtower Medical Unit)

Kiva had left the battle area after Galatea and Cadmus had stopped the creature. She now stood at the side of Thomas' bed. Her hand softly traced his face as she felt tears forming in her eyes. She heard someone move and looked up to see Diana walking in. She started to move, but Diana's hand found her shoulder. Kiva looked at the older woman with fear in her eyes.

"Is he… Is he going to be alright?" Kiva asked her.

Diana looked into the eyes of the girl that loved her son. She could tell how much Thomas meant to her. She also could tell that Kiva knew how badly Thomas was hurt. It pained her to see the girl she hoped would be her daughter in law grieving already.

"Kiva… would you come with me? I am going to beseech Apollo on Thomas' behalf." Diana asked her.

"Will… will that help him?" Kiva asked as she turned back to Thomas.

"Kiva, I cannot promise what the gods will do, but I know that it can't hurt." Diana said as she lightly squeezed the girl's hand.

"Do we need to go to Greece?" Kiva asked.

A small smile played across Diana's lips, and she shook her head slightly.

"No, I have an alter in my room, and there is another one in the chapel down the hall." Diana said as she stepped back and looked at Kiva standing there with Thomas.

"Can… Can we do it here?" Kiva asked.

The fact that the girl didn't want to leave Thomas spoke in volumes. Diana pulled the current around Thomas' bed closed and stepped close to him. She knelt and looked at Kiva watching the girl do the same. Diana closed her eyes and softly chanted in Greek for a few moments.

"Allow her to speak favorite of Hera." A voice said.

"Kiva, you must ask for Thomas." Diana quietly said.

"Please… If you can heal him please." Kiva said as he eyes squeezed shut.

"He already has my blessings. His body heals much faster than mortals, but you do not ask for that only. He sleeps the sleep of the eternal. Speak what you would ask of me child." Apollo said

"Allow him to wake up. Allow us to be together." Kiva said.

The entire space where Thomas' bed was began to brighten. The light wasn't painful, and it didn't seem to hender Kiva's sight. Instead she was able to see the form of what appeared to be a man take shape. When he finished forming the man stood well over eight foot tall and was dressed in a golden Tunic. In his left hand was a long bow and his right hand seemed to contain some sort of soft glow to it. He walked around the bed and smiled down at Kiva.

"Child, If I could return him I would. I can heal his body, and I've already began to, but his mind is with Morpheus and the god of slumber has not had company in some time." Apollo said as he stood and looked at the half Amazon in the bed.

"Your son honored us this day Diana be proud of the fact that he stood against a foe who had the ability to crush him and yet he did not back down. He fought with the cunning of a hunter, he planned as a seasoned warrior, and he held the love inside of himself to keep him going. We will bless his line." Apollo said to Diana before he dematerialized.

"How do we contact Morpheus?" Kiva asked her hands balling up into fists.

(Watchtower – Yellow sun generator)

Dick looked at his wife as she laid under the generator. He had heard Bruce and Clark talk about the generator that Clark had seen in the alternate future with Vandal Savage. It had took the combined efforts of Bruce, Atom, and Captain Atom to create the Generator, but the end effect was that now there was an area that would allow anyone who was Kryptonian to heal faster than just being brought out in the sunlight.

"D…Dick?" Galatea gasped as she barely opened her eyes.

Dick quickly threw on a protective suit and walked toward where she was.

"I'm right here sweetheart." He said as he held her hand.

She looked toward him and he could see how unfocused her eyes was. She was in pain, her injuries had been near fatal, and she had spent all of the energy she had in reserves to help stop the creature. He wanted to hold her and tell her that it would be alright, but for now the radiation from the generator was doing more for her than he could alone.

"I was almost gone wasn't I?" She asked as she held on to his hand.

"It's alright. We got you under the generator." Dick said as he smiled softly to her.

"It would have been like Lois losing Clark for you. I'm sorry…" She started to say before he placed a finger on her lips.

"You did what you had to do. Galatea I love you, hell I'm always going to love you…" He began before she looked at him and he stopped.

"My reason for doing it… I didn't do it for the world, and I didn't do it for the mission. That thing had hurt our son, and if it managed to get away from that place… Dick it would have killed everyone including you. I wasn't going to let it get to you. If it ever comes down to it. If I have to choose between the world and our family I will choose our family. There is nothing that means more to me." She said as a soft smirk crossed her lips.

"That's what I think about it too." Dick said as he squeezed her hand.

"How much longer should I stay in here?" Galatea asked.

"That thing wasn't as restrained as before. It attacked harder and they found that you had a collapsed lung, four broken ribs, and some internal bleeding. You'll need to be under the generator for a few more hours at least." He said.

"Stay with me?" She asked him.

"Of course." He said as he grabbed a chair and moved it over next to her.

(Superwoman's room – Watchtower )

Lara leaned her head against the wall and felt tremors rush down her. She hurt because of the Kryptonite, but that wasn't causing the tremors. It was the fear she had felt when Red X stood over her. He was a human, a normal human, but he had been the only one to ever come close to beating her. If it hadn't of been for Batman and Wonder Woman showing up when they did she would have been in a worse shape. She looked at the pictures on her wall. Zur was now a teenager and working to reform the titans after the founders of it had left. She felt so proud of him and proud of the work he had done on his own. He had even choose his own name calling himself Superkid. Her eyes moved down the pictures until they came to rest on a plain looking human. He wasn't very handsome, tall, or muscular. In fact there wasn't very many redeeming physical qualities about him, but Andrew Thompson had been a kind man. She wished that he would have lived. Slow the tremors ended and she walked toward the shower in her room. She turned it on and the sound of the water helped to spread some relief through her.

_Lara I can feel discomfort spreading from you. Do you need to talk? _J'onn's voice spoke to her mind.

_Perhaps later my friend. I need a shower and to relax. _She replied.

_If it helps there was times that he had been frightened too. _ J'onn stated.

_Am I fooling myself J'onn? Does any of the good I do really affect the world? _Lara asked as she felt the warm waters run down her near flawless skin.

_How many times I have heard that question. Lara what we do not only affect the world, but it affects the lives in it. Each time you help stand against those who would make the world a worse place it helps provide hope for the future._ J'onn said simply.

_Thank you J'onn… Our therapy session… Can we move it up to in the next thirty minutes? _Lara asked.

_Of course my friend. Do you want the full body or just back?_ J'onn asked.

_Full body._ She said through their link before it ended.

(Kent Farm – Kal's room)

Kal listened to the radio as he heard the reporters talking about the creature that had tore through the league. Without a second thought he walked to the closet and looked at the suit that hung in it. Grandma Kent had told him about how his father had different uniforms, and one of them had been from a good friend. The uniform was designed to fit any shape no matter how big or small. Unfortunately that the limit of the suits ability, but still his father had wore it with pride several times. Kal took the suit out of the closet and pulled it on. He looked at it trying to figure out how to get it to shrink down and fit him when his hands brushed a small raised bump. The moment they did the suit shrunk and enclosed him.

He walked to the window and opened it slowly. Looking back at his room he stepped out and took off toward the direction of Las Vegas.

(Vegas – Destroyed sections caused by Doomboy)

John looked around at the rubble. They had been finding survivors in the mess, but he was uncertain of how many survivors there could be. It would be so much easier if Superwoman, Galatea, or even Superkid was available to help in this. He looked up for a second and his blood started to run cold. The cape, color of the suit, and body shape looked too familiar.

"Clark?" John thought at first as the figure landed.

John shook his head as he looked at the boy. He was easily as tall as Clark, his face had the same chiseled chin, but his eyes was certainly from Lois Lane.

"What can I do to help?" Kal asked as he looked at John.

"Do you have X-Ray vision?" John asked.

"Yes." Kal said as he began looking at the buildings.

"Okay then. Look for survivors under the rubble and tell us where they are." John said as he watched the son of Superman begin to look for the survivors.

(Further down in Vegas)

Amber and Johnny both zipped through the streets helping their dad recover survivors. Amber looked at a large building and could hear the supports in it starting to give way.

"Dad!" She shouted before she zipped inside.

No sooner had she reached the second floor than the building started to shift and she felt the floor falling out from under her. She started running harder stopping only for the briefest of seconds to grab a small child that had been separated from her family and then started to zip out toward her father when the front of the building collapsed in on her. She began to run backward and the floor gave way sending her and the child into the basement of the building as the rest began to collapse in on her.

"HELP ME!" She screamed as loud as she could as the darkness began to cover her.

(Near the buildings by John.)

Kal heard the scream for help and looked up. His eyes widened with terror as the feeling of dread began to creep up on him. He flew in the direction of the scream and focused his sight on the building below him. He could see Amber laying under the rubble with a small body under her. He didn't hesitate for a second as his hands began to grab the rubble and throw it out of the way. Wally stood and watched as Kal dug down to where Amber was at and carefully lifted her out. He looked at the yellow suit with red lightning bolts down the legs and one on the chest she wore. Gently he held her and the child in his arms and walked out with them both. He didn't see the reporters or the pictures being taken. He didn't hear the exclaims that Superman was once again among us, instead all he saw was the girl he had fallen in love with in his arms and he was going to be damned before he let anything else hurt her.

"Superman! Superman a moment please!" one of the reporters shouted. Instead of stopping and talking to them he walked to Wally.

"Can you get us out of here?" Kal asked as he held Amber.


	8. Grimm's Tales

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 8 'Grimm's Tales'**_

(Unknown Room)

Thomas slowly sat up as he looked around at the dark room. He walked a few steps and suddenly a low blue light came on. He listened as a mechanical hum began to fill the room and the light slowly illuminated everything before him. He looked on to see that the room was all dark, but warm colors. Deep reds, purples, and greens filled the room and toward the furthest corner was a figure sitting in a chair seemingly working with something on a table before him.

"It has been so long since I have entertained guests." The figure said as it finished and then turned around to face Thomas.

The being stood wearing a tunic on which various dream like scenes played out and some would roll off of the tunic and float in an unseen current. The being grabbed a long black cape and pulled it onto his shoulders. He walked toward Thomas and extended his hand.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Morpheus god of sleep and dreams. Tell me do you enjoy chess?" Morpheus asked as he lead Thomas over to the table and sat down with him. Before them was a large chess board. One side was composed completely of the Amazons and the other side was the justice League.

"I play with Aphrodite every once in a while. To be honest I think that she used our games to bring the princess and your father together. She hasn't been here to play in a long time though," Morpheus said as he smiled and reached into the unseen current above them and pulled out a double headed coin which was scarred on one side.

"Scarred side I play the Amazons, Clear side you play them." Morpheus said as he flipped the coin and the clear side came up.

"Always happens like that. I've never got to play as the Amazons once." Morpheus said as he shook his head.

"Where am I?" Thomas asked as he looked at the god of sleep and dreams.

"I'm sorry… Where are my manners. You are in the land of dreams my realm. The creature you faced put you into the eternal sleep. It's not death, but then again it's not really life. Normally someone that goes into the eternal sleep goes on to my brother Phantasos in the Land of Nightmares, but you are a hero a true hero at that and that means that you fall into my realm. Mine is a land of pleasures, conquests, and endless delights." Morpheus said as he pushed a figure that looked like a green lantern out.

"Thank you for taking a personal interest in me, but… I can't stay here. I need to return. I've… I'm going to be a father." Thomas said.

Morpheus clicked his tongue and looked at Thomas.

"My father, Hypnos actually controls the sleeping world. I control the dreams, but he controls those that sleep. He's really big on tradition. If you want out you'll have to pass his test, and I will not be able to help you. It might be better if you just sit down and enjoy a game of chess." Morpheus said as he smiled at Thomas.

"What do I have to do?" Thomas asked.

"It's something you won't like boy. Trust me you don't want to do this. Leave it alone." Morpheus stated as he watched Thomas.

"Whatever it is I'll do it, so what do I have to do?" Thomas asked.

"Beat me in a game of chess and I'll tell you." Morpheus said as he smirked in triumph.

For what seemed like hours the game proceeded. Thomas would move a piece and each time he did he could swear that the pieces argued, reacted, and physically attacked the opposing pieces. He watched as the Amazons on the board attacked with a viciousness he had never seen in his mother, grandmother, or even his sisters. The first thing that happened was the slaughter of the green lantern pawns. He could swear that when the pawn that looked like Mr. Stewart was slaughtered the Bishop that looked like Mrs Stewart screamed in rage. He watched as Morpheus sent the bishop toward his pawns and without any mercy the bishop took the pawn by slamming her mace down upon its head.

As the battle progressed he watched as the pieces thinned. Thomas watched as Morpheus slowly lost one night, both bishops, both rooks, all but one of his pawns and the queen to various attacks. Thomas looked at Morpheus' face as his king came under check mate by the two knights Thomas still had.

"Clever move. The knights are usually for nothing more than thinning out the herd. You've played a great game, but tell me why did you make it the knights?" Morpheus asked as he looked at the board and the pieces all disappeared.

"I know from experience there is nothing more dangerous, determined, and courgraous than a knight. I know because my father is one." Thomas said as he looked at Morpheus.

"He has taught you well Thomas. It was a good game. Of course it won't be reflected in your world incase you wondered if it would. No, it was just for us although I watched the reservation in you to taking the bishop." Morpheus said with a gleem in his eyes.

"I didn't enjoy watching them die… Even if they weren't real it hurt… Please I played and beaten you. How do I return?" Thomas asked.

Morpheus looked at the boy and could tell how much the game affected him. He had been forced to kill off his family, the family of the girl he loved, and the families of friends. A small smile crossed Morpheus' lips and he stood. The god of dreams stretched out his hand and a door opened.

"Beyond that door is the land of Nightmares. You must go there and retrieve the cloak that Phantasos uses to send images of terror into the minds of the mortals. When you retrieve it take the cloak to my father. The door to Hypnos will open to you once, and only once you retrieve the cloak. Be warned that my brother's world is far different than my own. Anything that has ever frightened you, anything that you have ever seen, experienced, or feared will be there waiting for you." Morpheus said as he watched Thomas walk toward the door.

"May king Zeus' blessings be upon you." Morpheus said as he watched Thomas open the door.

Suddenly Morpheus felt a pull as if someone was calling to him. He smiled hoping that it was a follower praying for good dreams for a child. He walked toward the end of his realm and disappeared.

(Inside of the watchtower – In the Chapel)

Kiva watched as the room slowly began to grow into a peaceful darkness. Slowly a giant man formed and around him was a tunic made of dreamlike images that seemed to float off into an unseen current. The man looked at Kiva and then at Diana.

"I think I know why you have contacted me." Morpheus said as he looked at both of them and then walked to a bench. Kiva watched as he held out his hand and formed a chess board full of pieces.

"Where is Thomas?" Kiva asked in more of a growl than in a polite manner.

"Child, I will tell you, and I would have anyway, but there are such things as manners. For that information you will have to play me at a game of chess. You don't have to beat me, but you have to play." He said as the pieces began to change.

Kiva watched as the black side became the reserve members of the league. The white side became various villains they had faced. One of the knights on the white side was the creature that had hurt Thomas. She looked at the king and queen to see Lexington and Alexandra Luthor. The other knight was a strange piece that looked like Red X, the bishops was Scarecrow and Two Face, the rooks was Talia and Ra's AlGhul, and finally the pawns was all of the legion of shadows that followed the demon's head.

"Shall we?" Morpheus said as he looked at the chess board.

(Watchtower – Medical Unit)

Kal watched as the medical techs began to work on Amber. He could see the worry on Mr. West's face as well. The techs ran a quick scan on her and then turned toward the three men standing there.

"She'll be fine. It looks like the worst she got was a mild concussion. It could have been worse if she wasn't got out as fast as she was." The head tech said before he went back to work on other patients.

Seeing that his daughter was going to be alright Wally turned toward Kal, "So how does your mother feel about becoming Superman?" Wally asked.

"She doesn't know." Kal said.

"Well with those cameras and television studios there she'll know before too long." Wally said.

(Near Thomas' bed)

Bruce looked down at his son as he lay in the bed before him. He wanted to scream in rage at what the creature had done to him, but it would do no good. He had already went to see Hippolyta and found his daughter recovering. Athena had transported from Themyscira and was sitting with her sister when he arrived. When they heard about Thomas, Athena said that she would see him in a few minutes, but for the moment she wanted to make sure that Hippolyta was fine. Bruce sat down beside his son and touched his hand.

"They said that you helped to stop it. I know I was hard on you Thomas. I drove you harder than you deserved, but I knew that you would and could be better. I could see the possibility in you to do something I could never do. I could see that you could actually become the mix of light and dark that the league, the world, and Gotham needs." Bruce said as he touched his son's hand.

"Oh Hera…. Tommy…" Athena said as she looked at her younger brother, "Daddy, he'll be alright won't he?" She asked Bruce.

"I don't know Athena. He's alive, but according the chart he's in a coma. You're mother has never fallen under a coma before. I don't if he'll be able to awaken or not." Bruce said as he looked at his youngest.

(Land of Nightmares)

Thomas stepped forward into the inky blackness that surrounded him. The thickness of it seemed to swallow everything around him. He heard the door slam and suddenly he stood on the deck of a large ship. Before him was a man dressed in black robes and a dark hood veiled his face. The man turned toward Thomas and pointed a finger. Hundreds of soldiers started to move toward him and Thomas looked at it knowing that he had seen this before, but was unaware of when he had witnessed it.

"You are to be excuted by order of his divine shadow." One of the soldiers said as it held a blaster on him.

"Oh… Oh I remember this now… I saw this when I was little. It scared the hell out of me and gave me nightmares." Thomas said as the cloaked figure walked toward him.

"Yes, you remember now child. Now die." The figure said as it thrust a dagger toward his gut.

The dagger stopped as Thomas looked at him. "Really… Did you expect me to still be afraid of 'His Divine Shadow'? I've faced worse than this in Gotham." Thomas said as he crossed his arms.

The room began to change again and the cloaked figure moved out of the way to reveal a long and winding walkway. Thomas walked toward the walkway and saw the sign upon it, "Path to knowledge begins here." The words read.

Seeing that the only way to get back to the real world was to go deeper into the land of Nightmares he began walking down the path.

(Watchtower – Chapel)

Kiva looked at the god of dreams and cocked an eyebrow. He wanted to play games while the man she loved was trapped inside of himself.

(Metropolis – Luthor Corp Headquarters)

Baxter Stockman looked at the computer screen before him. It had been fairly easy to hack into old files and programs that Lexington's father had wrote. Granted a decade ago this was state of the art programming, and even by today's standard it was stronger than needed to keep out the run of the mill hackers.

_It's good Luthor, but not good enough to keep out a genius like me. _Baxter thought as he watched the file open and before him a single red dot glowed brightly. He studied it for a moment and then looked at the name.

_Impossible. He's dead. He's been dead and buried for years. _Baxter thought as he looked at the screen again and then shook his head. It was wrong. He knew that it was wrong.

Everything told Baxter that Superman had died facing the same creature that tore up Las Vegas. The man that appeared afterward most likely was the offspring of the alien. The normal idiots that watch the news might not have noticed, but there was small things that stood out. Eye color was off, he was younger, everything about him seemed to scream that he was of the same line, but not the same being.

Baxter walked toward the memorial for the man of steel and used the authorization code he had stolen off of the cities computer systems. The door opened and he walked inside to see a long crystal coffin holding the body of Superman. Slowly the scientist moved the lid of the coffin and looked at the body inside that hadn't decayed in well over a decade. He reached and expected to feel a cold corpse, but instead the body was warm, vibrant, almost alive. Swallowing hard he felt of the man of steel's neck and his eyes widened.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Baxter shouted as he stepped back.

"It's impossible! You're dead! By God everyone watched you die!" Baxter shouted as he felt his legs betraying him making him move closer to the door. He felt something behind him and turned to see Superwoman standing there.

The guardian of Metropolis looked at Baxter and then at Superman. A wave of mixed emotions flooded over her as she looked at the body lying in the casket. She grabbed Baxter and looked into his eyes.

"Tell your employers that the league will connect them to the lab and the illegial splicing and kidnapping of those children." She said as she dropped him and Baxter Stockman scurried away like the rat he was.

"Watchtower two to transport directly to the yellow sun generator." Lara said as she touched Clark's arm.

(Watchtower – Yellow Sun Generator)

Lara looked at Clark after she placed him under the generator and stood back. She felt as though she needed to unload part of the things that had happened. Even though he would not know who she was he deserved to know how important he was to the one who he had chosen as his mate.

"Kal-El. I am Lara-Zul of Krypton. I was intended to be your mate, but then our home world was lost. I believed that all of the house of El had perished. I mated with another and found comfort in his arms. I did not love him, I only looked for comfort and I found it. I did not find love until I met a human, and his love for me and those I cared for lead him to lay down his life for us. I did not believe I would find love again until I met and got to know J'onn J'onzz. I tell you this because I know that your heart belongs to one who has been surviving, but not living without you." Lara said.

Galatea and Dick had left a few minutes before Lara appeared, but it didn't stop some from seeing something that all thought would be impossible. For a moment only one or two appeared outside of the room, but soon techs, heroes both old and new stood outside of the generator to see Superman lying on a table being bombarded by solar radiation.

Lara turned and walked toward the door.

"Contact his wife and tell her she needs to come to the Watchtower." Lara said as she looked at the heroes standing outside.

(Watchtower – Medical Unit.)

Amber groaned as she opened her eyes. She could see her father sitting at the foot of her bed, but what she saw next made her heart race. Standing beside her a gentle smile on his face was Kal. She reached up and felt his hand close on hers. She took in the uniform he was wearing and a bright smile appeared on her face.

"Fancy seeing you here." She said as she smiled.

"I just happened to be in Vegas when this pretty girl fell again. I had to help her up." He said as he bent down to her.

"I love you." Kal said as he blushed and almost looked away.

He felt a hand on his cheek and looked back into her eyes.

"I love you too." She said and then a little smirk replaced the smile, "I'm going to have to thank Mary and Johnny for causing the fuss they did when we came to visit you. Otherwise I don't know if I would have had a chance to notice how sweet you are." She said before she gently pecked him on the lips.

"You know you really need to wait until I'm out of the room to do that." Wally said as he stretched and stood up.

Both Kal and Amber blushed slightly as Wally walked over toward them and leaned down to hug his daughter.

"I love you baby girl. I'm going to run down to the cafeteria. Anyone want anything?" He asked.

"A couple dozen of Granny Kent's Chocolate chip cookies." Amber said sweetly as she smiled at him.

"Hey… I was saving those… Who am I kidding? Alright see you in a bit." Wally said before he took off.

"How did you know he had some of my grandma's cookies?" Kal asked.

"He always gets her to bake him two or three dozen each time we visit and he hides them away in the cafeteria's cabinets." Amber answered.

(Chapel)

Kiva looked at the god of dreams and wanted to lay into him for not telling her about Thomas. She felt confused, angered, and most of all helpless. She looked at Diana who also seemed to be in the same state she was in. Both women felt as if there would be no other choice than to give the god of dreams what he wanted until a bright light flashed and a beautiful dark haired woman appeared. Upon her head was detailed and beautiful crown, in her hand was a pomegranate, and she wore a blue chiton which was seamless and appeared to perfectly fit her. She moved toward Morpheus who became more and fearful as she approached.

"Give them the information they seek Morpheus, or shall I find disfavor in you." Hera said as she looked at the god of dreams.

"No… No my queen. Thomas has left my care and gone to complete the test set by Hypnos. He has to go deep into the land of Nightmares and bring back my brother's cloak. I may not help him." Morpheus said as he looked at the ground and the chess board disappeared.

"Leave us Morpheus." Hera said.

The god of dreams nodded and backed up slowly, "My queen… I'm sorry for acting as I did. I'm lonely and there is no one talk with or play games with. None of the gods sleep anymore and I have been unable to provide dreams for them. I wished only for a small time to spend with another." Morpheus said as he began to disappear.

"Tonight Morpheus I shall send someone to play your games with." Hera said before she turned back to Diana and Kiva.

"Young one I've seen into your heart. I know how you feel toward your beloved and I bless the union; however, I may not interfere with the tests that Hypnos has set about. It is a rule laid down by my husband, and I cannot go against his wishes. I can however tell you that those close to him may aid him however they wish." She said as a smirk of triumph crossed her lips.

With that said Hera looked to Diana and gave her knowing nod before she too disappeared.

(Watchtower Yellow Sun Generator room)

Lois felt the suit on her as she walked toward the body on the table. It couldn't be Clark. There was no way it was because Clark was dead. She had accepted this and moved on. Even though it hurt, and even though each day since he died she felt a void in her soul that would never again be filled she had moved on and raised their son her own. She touched his face and watched as he opened his mouth and took in a gasp of air. His eyes fluttered slightly and he turned toward her. Their eyes met and within seconds the man of steel stood and took his wife into his arms.

Everyone heard the crying and could see Lois holding on to Clark for all she was worth.

"I love you, I love you." She said over and over again as she felt part of herself that she was certain had died come back with him.


	9. Learn to live

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 9 'Learn to live'**_

(Watchtower – The Atrium)

Against the suggestions of the medical techs Clark had left the yellow sun generator walked with Lois to the Atrium. He looked at her and gently touched her cheek. He knew that years had passed, and was uncertain of how many to be exact but Lois still looked stunningly beautiful. He noticed the tan she had and the increase in her muscle mass. A slight smile crossed his lips.

"You moved to the country?" He asked as they sat down.

"You could wait until we have a chance to talk before you start guessing what has happened Clark." She said before she leaned forward and kissed him with more passion he believed could be possible.

She took his hand and held it for several seconds before she moved and soon found herself leaning against him. She felt her heart swell with the love inside for the man she sat next to and knew that even with him gone like he had been she was so thankful to have him back.

"I'm sorry Lois." Clark said after a few minutes.

Lois held him and she knew why he was apologizing. She softly shook her head and felt part of her old self that wanted to banter and play along with him, but she also knew that right now wasn't the time for it. Right now Clark needed to know that she still loved him, and he needed to know that no one would ever mean as much to her as he did. She lifted her eyes to him and hoped that he could see the love, lust, and friendship reflected there.

"There's no reason to be sorry Clark. I've been given a gift. I thought that you… We all thought that you had died, but for you to come back to us. It's more than I could ask for, and it more than I ever expected anyone to ever give me." She said before she found his mouth again and kissed him deeply.

The kiss lasted for several minutes and then Clark slowly pulled back. He looked at Lois and gently brought her over this lap. She felt herself shutter at his touch. The need, the hunger she had for him resurfaced and demanded to be satisfied. Still there was things that needed to be said. Clark needed to know and deserved to know about all that happened, but she moaned as she felt his hands move to the back of her dress and find the buttons that held it together. She looked into his eyes and could see the same hunger and desire there in his eyes. She felt the top of her dress loosen and she moved slightly allowing him to lower it.

"I love you… Clark I love you so much." She said softly as she watched him marvel at her.

She had forgotten what it was like when they had wanted each other this much. His hands softly traced her as if he was feeling everything for the first and last time. Each touch brought so much joy, and so much wonder to them both. She could feel the need, desire, and hunger for him build as they helped shed the rest of each other's clothes. For a moment her eyes drank in the wonders of his body, "You're so beautiful," They both said at the same time. She felt his hands find her back and she leaned into him she felt his lips kiss her neck in the spot she was sure would never be touched again, and like old times she could barely form words in her head let alone outloud.

"Uhhhh… C… Clark." She gasped as she felt her entire body tingle from the attention she had been denied for so long.

It started with hunger. The need to feel, touch, experience, but as each second passed the hunger became a primal need. The need they had was to feel what they had lost with their very souls. Lois felt more than enter her. She felt his very soul touch her own. She could feel every emotion, every need, and every want and gave everything she had to fill it for him. The first round lasted less than six minutes, but the second lasted well over an hour. She laid there on top of him her head resting on his shoulder.

"Never leave me again." She said.

Clark understood that it wasn't a request or a simple statement. Lois was demanding that he never again leave her, and by all that was holy he never would.

"There's something I should tell you." She said after a few minutes.

He looked at her almost expecting to hear that she had moved on and found someone else, but then he stopped that train of thought. Lois was the type of person who would have told him before anything happened. She would have let him know and she would have never let it get this far, so he waited to hear what she wanted to say.

"After that thing 'killed' you I took a pregnancy test. Clark… you have a son." She said as she felt his grip tighten slightly and then he relaxed.

"I have… I have a son?" he asked.

"You do and I want you to meet him." Lois said as she lifted herself up to look at him.

(Watchtower – Medical unit – Amber's bed)

Kal smiled as Amber breezed through the cookies her father had brought her. She was kind enough to give both her father, and himself one before she continued her onslaught of the baked goods. She began to get up, but suddenly she felt herself loose balance and quickly she decided to lie back down.

"Oh my head…" She said as she leaned back.

"The doctors said that you would need to be off of the roster for the next couple of days." Wally said as he looked at his daughter.

"But what about Justice League meet and greet that we do every year?" Amber asked as she looked at her father.

"Sweetie this year you might have to sit it out. I don't know if it would be a good idea to show our enemies that you're still hurt." Wally said before he stretched and popped his back.

"Baby girl I've got to head back. Mary convinced her parents to come and visit, and that means that someone needs to be there to keep Johnny from being too, well Johnny." Wally said with a smile before he zoomed out of the room and toward the teleporter.

Kal saw the way Amber seemed to pout about not going to the meet and greet thing and decided to cheer her up. Kal brought a seat closer to her and sat down so that she could look him in the eyes easier if she needed to.

"It'll be alright. I'll stay here and keep you company." Kal said as he smiled at her.

"They'll want you to go," She said but the pout slowly disappeared and she smiled at him, "The world will want to see Superman again, but even with them seeing you I know that there is only one girlfriend of Superman's" She said as she sat up and leaned toward him.

It was the first time that Kal heard anyone say that Amber was his girlfriend. She was a friend, and she was a girl, but then you don't feel so much panic rush through you when a friend needs help. It was something more, and although he didn't understand all of it he knew she was right. There was only one girlfriend for him. He leaned toward her and their lips met for the briefest of moments.

"Ahem." He heard an all too familiar voice say from behind him.

The fact that he would be facing his mother wasn't lost on him. He knew that sooner or later she was going to come and confront him about what happened, but he would do it all again to make sure that Amber was safe. He broke the kiss with Amber and turned to see his mother standing in the door way. The first thing he noticed was that she almost seemed to have a glow about her. The second thing he noticed was the man standing behind her. He seemed familiar and at the same time that familiarity was almost alien.

"Hi mom." Kal said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Kal we have things to talk about later, but I want you to meet someone. Kal… Sweetheart this is your father." Lois said.

(Lara's room)

Lara groaned as she felt the experienced hands on her back massaging out the tense muscles. She felt two sets of hands and secretly she loved it when J'onn did this. As he massaged her back the other set of hands began to rub her thighs relaxing her further and making everything sort of haze over as the feeling peaceful tranquility covered her.

"Mmmmm… You have magic hands." She moaned as he gently repositioned her.

"Lara, I sensed that there was more of a reason for our session than just being together." J'onn said as he let one of his hands move further up her thigh.

She breathed in deeply and let out a soft moan, "There was J'onn. With Kal… With him being returned to life it made me think of the days before I came to Earth. I realized something and it has stayed with me since the thought first came into my head. The traditions we had, and even the ones I still practice, are from a former life were there was little choice. We where each predestined to be placed with a mate because of house status, genetic compatibility or simply because of political reasons, but never where we allowed to choose our mates. I wanted you to know that I chose you." Lara said before she felt him urge her turn over.

She did and she felt his lips as he kissed her. His four arms quickly returned back to two and he pulled her toward him. She returned the embrace and kissed his neck.

As they embraced Lara smiled. On her desk was a bag of Oreos, but instead of going for the cookies and opening them to savor the smell of them J'onn had instead came straight to her. It was something small, and perhaps no one else would even notice it, but to her it said what she already knew. It told her that she was just as important to him as he was to her.

(Land of Nightmares)

The winding trail had lead through dark forests, empty voids, and even apocalyptic waste lands each from stories and movies from Thomas' youth. The further into the trail he moved the more horrifying the images, but with each step Thomas knew he was getting closer to being back with Kiva. He could hear someone softly crying in the next room and turned the corner to see himself lying in a hospital bed. Beside him was Kiva and she was holding a little girl who couldn't be over three years old.

"Why? Why did you leave me Thomas?" Kiva asked through her tears as she looked at him lying in the bed.

"Miss we have to ask you to leave." A voice stated and Kiva nodded.

"I'll try… I'll try to be back tomorrow." Kiva said as she moved toward a darkened corner and then disappeared.

"This isn't real." Thomas said through clentched teeth.

"Not real? It looks fairly real to me." He heard his own voice and looked to his sleeping form raise up in the bed.

"Yeah not real. I'm heading back to her." Thomas said.

"That's if you can get out of here. No one's done it 'Tommy'. There has never been a hero who has been able to escape with their mind intact. What makes you think that you will?" His bed ridden self asked.

"I'm my father's son." Thomas said as he started walking again.


	10. Making a Deal

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 10 'Making a Deal'**_

(Watchtower – Thomas' Private room – two days after Clark's return to life)

Diana had arranged for Thomas to be moved to his private room on the Watchtower, and while it mean a little extra trip for the medical staff it did allow for more privacy for the family. Diana came in and looked at Kiva. The girl hadn't left and refused to leave Thomas' side for any reason. She stood being as quiet as possible and watched as the girl tenderly cleaned his face.

"Kiva why don't you go and get something to eat?" Diana asked as she looked at the girl.

"I will, but I want to be here when he comes out of it. I know him and he's fighting right now." She said as she looked at him.

The weariness and sadness that poured off of the girl was hard to miss. Diana could see how lost Kiva seemed without Thomas. She had experienced a similar situation when Bruce had gotten hurt by saving her and Kal. She knew beyond all doubts that the two were not only meant to be together, but they were joined at their very souls.

"I'll bring you back something." Diana said as she softly smiled.

The Princess of the Amazons prepared to leave, but something made her stop. She noticed how cold the room got and felt an icy presence near them. She walked toward Thomas and stood by his bed waiting for whatever it was to show itself. A form began to take shape. Diana could tell the being was from the line of the gods, but for a god she was short. Her height a mere six foot instead of towering eight and twelve foot most of the gods appeared as. Her clothing was not very godly. Instead it looked almost humble. Diana noticed the girl's white hair and soft complexion. She stood near Thomas and looked over both Diana and Kiva.

"I've always been so fanasinated by his line. Not your side princess for I know the line of Queen Hippolyta well, but his father's line. So much tragedy, yet they do not only survive they thrive. They've become favorites of mine." The girl said as she softly smiled.

"Who are you?" Diana asked.

"Yes, I expected that you would not know me well. I'm as foreign to the Amazons of Themyscira as the Martian is to the earth. My name is Thanatos, but the world knows me as Death." The girl said as she smiled softly again at Thomas.

"You can't have him!" Kiva said as she stood between Thanatos and Thomas.

"I know of Thanatos, but he is supposed to be a man." Diana said as she studied the god.

"I barely get out, and most artists back in the glory days portrayed every minor god as a male or male influenced. Since I rarely appear they portrayed me as a man. Later I would be portrayed as a skeleton wearing a cloak and holding a scythe. No daughter of Queen Hippolyta I am a woman, and I not here to claim him." She said before she turned back to Kiva.

"What do you want then?" Kiva asked as she looked at the woman.

"I come to offer you a chance to help him. I cannot rules stop me, but I can help you help him." She said gently to Kiva.

"Gods always want something in return a tribute or offering." Diana said to Kiva.

"I do want something, but nothing that would cause any harm. The other gods of Olympus have each enjoyed time as a mortal. Even Hades lived among mortal world for a short time. I wish to experience it as well, but in a different way. They feared losing their powers, of actually experiencing life as a mortal. I want to experience it. I want to be born, grow up, fall in love, lose myself in that love, give children to the one I love, grow old, and return back to my place. Please… Please allow this for me. I wish to be born of his line," She said as she pointed to Thomas, "And I will not harm the other child that grows in you. Things will simply be doubled." Thanatos said as she smiled at Kiva.

"You… you want to be my child?" Kiva asked.

"Yes, is it so wrong to ask such a thing?" Thanatos asked as she looked Kiva.

(Kent Farm – Outside of Small Ville)

Clark walked along side of Kal as the two of them checked the fence rolls. Both of them had been quiet toward each other, and finally Clark knew he was going to have to be the one to break the silence.

"Your mother told me that you're part of the school paper." Clark said as he admired the work Kal had been doing.

"Yeah, I've been working as the editor since Ms. McGivins died last year." Kal answered.

"Ms. McGivins? She was still working?" Clark said as he remembered the old librarian that had worked in Small Ville high.

"They asked her to come back to teach the journalism classes for the honor students. So, why didn't you ever come see mom before now?" Kal asked as he turned toward the man who was supposed to be his father.

"To be honest Kal I couldn't. For all rights and purposes I really was dead. If it hadn't of been for an old enemy of mine I think that I would still be buried." Clark said before he looked at how uncertain Kal was of the situation.

"I know I haven't been here for you. I wasn't here when Pa died. I wish that I was. I wish that I could have been here to comfort you, Lois, and Ma, but I couldn't be. I can't change the past Kal, but I will promise you this. I will make certain to be there from now on." Clark said as he looked at his son and the both of them seemed to gain an understanding.

As the two of them began to walk Clark smirked a little and decided to find out a little bit about his son, "So… you and Wally's daughter?" Clark asked.

"Hey I'm not asking questions about you and mom." Kal said as he turned and looked at Clark with the same expression that Lois use to give him to let him know he needed to drop the subject.

"Kal it's fine. She seems like a sweet girl, and I'm glad that the two of you like each other." Clark said as they passed the fence posts on the back twenty acres.

"She's better than just sweet. She's got this smile… When you see it just makes the entire day brighter. She's funny, smart, a little clumsy, but it seems right for her to be." Kal said as they walked.

"With a few exceptions you just described how I feel about your mother." Clark said as he stopped and looked toward the farm house.

"I know… I don't want to think about it, but I know that you being here, and what you've both been… Anyway it's making mom happier, and I want to see her happier she deserves it." Kal said before he stopped and looked out in the field. Clark had noticed it two and the both of them flew back toward the barn.

Kal grabbed the suit he had wore and watched as his father put on a different suit. The two of them then sped out toward where the sound had came from and swooped down to save a small boy who was out in the corn fields belonging to Marcus Lowerly. Kal grabbed the blades of the automatic corn husker as his father grabbed the boy. Old man Marcus stepped out of the operating box of the husker and looked at the two of them.

"Oh Lord! Is he alright?" Mr. Lowerly asked.

Clark looked at the boy for a moment and let his X-Ray vision sweep him.

"He'll be fine. Looks like he just sprung his knee." Clark said.

"Thank God. His mama would mighty pissed off at me for letting something happen to him. Come on Timmy, let's get you back to the house and put that knee on ice." Mr. Lowerly said as he smiled at both Clark and Kal.

"It's good to see the real you back Superman. Not saying that the kid there isn't good, but those of us that have seen you up close know how important you are." Mr. Lowerly said before he carried the little boy back toward his old farm house.

(Central City – First National Bank.)

Calamity looked at the Flash Brat standing between her and twenty million in cold hard cash.

"Come on girl we both know that I'm Calamity! I thrive on chaos and disorder and the moment you get near me I'm going to make you trip, most likely break your ankle, and then walk out of here with the money anyway." Calamity said as she grinned at the young superhero.

"Lady the only way you are walking out of here is in a pair of handcuffs." Amber said as she stood her ground.

"Oh feisty and kinky. I didn't know that you swung that way little flash brat." Calamity said as she tipped her cowboy hat backwards and looked at Amber.

To see the two of them you would think that a silver and red version of the flash was staring down a character straight out of a Clint Eastwood movie. Her dingy brown duster, dusty brown pants, yellow shirt, and leather vest all looked ventage and quite real. But the one thing different was the eye piece. Calamity had a strange eye patch she always wore, and Amber knew to get out of the way if it came off.

"Well I don't have time to take you up on the offer of cuffs and stuff, so I guess it's the hard way." Calamity said as she lifted the eye patch and a purple beam of energy shot out striking where Amber had stood a moment ago. For a moment nothing happened, a crashing sound could be heard and an antique safe that had been brought to the bank President's office on the upper floor fell through and struck the spot.

"Come on now let my light shine on you." Calamity said as she tried to hit Amber.

"That ain't happening 'Jinx'!" Amber said as she dodged another blast of the purple energy.

"ARGG! I'M NOT THAT PERSON! I'M CALAMITY!" Calamity shouted as she tried harder to hit Amber but failed to realize what Amber was doing. Finally Amber Stopped and Calamity smirked at her.

"Ran out of places to run brat?" Calamity said as she began to hit Amber with a blast of her purple energy.

"No, I just want to watch." Amber said as the floor around Calamity began to buckle and then suddenly it gave way causing Calamity to fall through the floor and land in the cleaned out old vault the bank had planned on having removed.

"The police should be able to get you out of there Calamity, that is if you don't go blasting the roof and cave it in on yourself first." Amber shouted.

"I'll get you brat. I'm going to make you pay for this." Calamity said as she sat down and waited for the police to arrive.

"Yo, Zip your boytoy just called." Johnny said over the communicator.

"He's my boyfriend Johnny. Is he coming over?" She asked as she began to jog out of the bank and toward the sewer entrance to their house.

"He said that he asked for you to get paired with him on a mission. The two of you are backing up Powergirl and Songbird." Johnny said.

"Awwww you don't get to hang out with your girlfriend?" Amber joked as she neared the house.

"Ha, ha. No I have monitor duty, and I have to study for my ACTs." Johnny said before he cut off.

"Zi… Ummmm… Streak to Watchtower, One to transport." She said before she disappeared and reappeared in the same room where Kal was at.

"Hey." She said as she walked toward him and took his hand.

(Thomas' room)

Kiva looked at Thanatos and nodded. She watched as the goddess smiled and walked toward her. Slowly death herself began to look like small pieces of dust and she started to disappear as the dust moved toward Kiva. It gathered around her womb and then slowly it all moved through her clothes and body. Kiva gasped as she felt the warm sensation and let out a small moan.

"Are you alright?" Diana asked.

"I… I think so." Kiva said as she looked back at Thomas.

_Touch his head._ A small child like voice said to her.

Kiva did as she was told and slowly the entire world began to turn black. She watched as the room faded. She looked at Thomas as he knelt beside someone. She walked slowly toward him and held her hand over her mouth as she saw her own body lying on the ground. A sword had been rammed through her chest and in her arms was an infant who had also been slain.

"Nononononononononononononono." Thomas chanted as he held her head rocking back and forth.

"I got out to save you…. How could I let this happen to you…" He asked no one.

"You didn't." Kiva said as she neared him.

Thomas looked up at her his eyes widened. He looked back at his hands and saw a man laying there with a black cloak on.

"Interfering bitch!" The god said as he stood.

"Thomas grabbed the cloak and the god tried to pull it back. Suddenly the god's hand looked as if they were forced down. He growled as Thomas took the cloak and then beside the god Hypnos appeared.

"Son, it has come to my attention that you have been cheating for some time." Hypnos said.

"I showed him his worse fears, there is no cheating in that." Phantasos said as he looked away from his father.

"It is when you take my shape and inform him that he has passed the test." Hypnos said before he released his son.

"Father… I only did what is in my nature." Phantasos said.

"Child give me the cloak and you shall be returned." Hypnos said.

"How do I know that you will do as you promise?" Thomas asked.

"We gods are bound by our word. I give my word that you shall be returned." Hypnos said as he took the cloak and then turned to Phantasos.

"Now… Release the ones trapped in eternal nightmares to visit Morpheus." Hypnos said.

"Very well father…" Phantasos said as he waved his hand.

"Boy beyond that door is the waking world. All I ask in return is a tribute of wine and chocolate to be given in my name. My lady wishes to taste of mortal chocolate again." Hypnos said as he watched Thomas and Kiva walk out through the door.

(Thomas' room)

Thomas gasped in a big breath of air and sat up. Before he had a chance to recover Diana hugged him tightly.

"My little sun!" She said as she released him.


	11. Different Person Same Old Question

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 11 'Different Person Same Old Question'**_

(Metropolis – Krypton Park – four months after Clark came back from the Dead)

Clark looked at the park that housed his 'tomb'. The city had deconstructed the tomb, but instead of simply making it a park again they decided to build a park centered around Kryptonian culture. Superwoman had been helping the city by telling them about the articture, designs, and even public park designs of the now dead planet. The end result was a miniature city made to look like it could have been part of Krypton. To open the park to the public the city asked 'Superman' and 'Superwoman' to cut the ribbon. Clark was glad to help, but before he had even had a chance to start the ceremony the questions started.

"Superman, what are you plans on Metropolis?" One reporter asked.

"It appears that Metropolis has a protector already. I'll be glad to help anytime that I'm needed, but I believe Superwoman has everything well taken care of here." He said.

"Superwoman, are you and Superman currently dating?" A reporter from Vogue asked.

"Madam, while I hold Superman in the highest regard we are not very compatible." Lara said as a smirk crossed her face.

"Superman, what is the Justice Leagues plans concerning the monster that destroyed Las Vegas? From what my sources have told me the monster is currently being held by Luthor corp." The new reporter for the Daily Planet asked.

"Right now the League is working with the United States Government to have Luthor Corp release the creature so that it can be confined permentally." Clark said as he looked toward the two Luthor Corp towers now in Metropolis.

"Do you have any bad blood with Lex Luthor's children, or did the feud end with Lex himself?" The same reporter asked.

"There was never a feud with Lex Luthor to begin with. The only bad blood between us was that Lex often stood on the wrong side of the law." Clark stated as he began to feel that this was going to turn ugly.

"Superwoman, Superwoman!" The woman from Vogue called for her attention.

_Rao give me strength. _Lara thought as she smiled and nodded toward the reporter.

"If Superman isn't your type would you mind to tell us what your type is? If you don't mind it would be nice to know." The reporter stated as she waited for a response.

"While Superman is handsome, I find that other forms of beauty holds my eye better." She said hoping to get the woman to drop the subject.

"Are you indicating that you like the female form better than Superman's form?" The woman asked.

_Oh Rao… Why do they go there? _She thought to herself as she prepared to answer as politely and straightforward enough to end this line of questioning.

"The female form is beautiful Miss, but it is not what I consider desirable. I like my men different than Superman, but today isn't about who I like, or if Superman is going to once again return to Metropolis. No, Today is about a grand project the city of Metropolis has set into motion to provide a clean, free place for the children to come and play. Please, there are many children, who would enjoy the park, that are waiting for us to cut the ribbon so they can come in." Lara said as she forced herself to keep smiling.

Finally the ribbon was cut and both Clark and Lara stood for pictures. Lara stopped and played with a couple of children for a few moments before she smiled at them and then took the skies. Not long after she was joined in the air by Clark. She pointed down and the two of the landed on top of the Daily Planet.

"Rao… Did they do this to you before?" She asked as she looked toward the new park.

"Actually they did this to Diana before. Everyone assumed that we were dating for various reasons." He said as he chuckled lightly.

"They didn't fear her husband or your wife?" She asked looking completely surprised.

He grinned for a moment and shook his head, "With the exception of a very few people no one really knows who Bruce really is, or that Lois is my wife. To the world Lois Lane is married to Clark Kent, and Diana of Themyscira is married to Bruce Wayne." Clark said as he stretched on top of the building.

"I doubt they would be trying to pair you with anyone if they knew your wife. She may only be human, but I've never seen someone so… confident and powerful like she is." Lara said as she smiled slightly.

"It's part of the reason I love her. Which I need to be heading back I promised that we would go shopping today for a new living room suite to update the furniture Ma has. Are you and J'onn Still planning on coming out for Thanksgiving dinner?" He asked as he looked at her.

"Of course, but please… Have the Oreos ready." She said before she leaped into the air and took off.

(Wayne manor – Kiva and Thomas' Room)

Thomas couldn't get over how big Kiva's stomach had grown in three months. He wondered what she would look like pregnant, She stood and grabbed her back.

"I hate my Thanagarian heritage." She said as she walked a few steps and then stopped.

"Why's that?" he asked as he walked behind her and tried to make sure that she was doing ok.

"The Thanagarian pregnancy only lasts six months... Oh… Oh Thomas feel!" She said as she turned her stomach toward him and he felt the little kicks coming from inside of her womb.

"Hey in there." He said as he knelt down to womb and talked to their children.

"You sure that you don't want to be with your mom?" He asked.

He watched her eyes narrow and slowly she exhaled and forced herself to calm down.

"No… Dad remembers mom being… Moody, really, really moody and said that it would be a good experience for you to see what this is like." She said with a smirk.

Kiva walked over to the closet and looked inside. Diana had been thrilled about taking her shopping and routinely her mother had came along to help. She had been into every maternity shop in Gotham at least six times. Each time she was in one of them she was sure to be trying on at least eight sets of clothes before she would finally say that she was tired. Naturally the inside of the closet she shared with Thomas was mainly full of her clothes, and today she wanted comfort. She pulled her nightgown off over her head and let it fall to the floor. Reaching inside she found a fleece set of jogging pants and a white tee-shirt that hung loose on her. She pulled began to pull the clothes on when she felt two hands softly reach around her and pull her into an embrace.

"Thomas… I really want to get dressed..." She said as she tried to get mad at him. Instead she felt happy that he wanted her, and loved her.

"Your mom is coming over today." He said as he kissed her neck.

"Oh?" She asked.

"Yes, she said that your diploma came in the mail. Also you have a baby shower to go to today." Thomas said as he enjoyed feeling her against him. He felt her wings stretch out a little and knew that she was enjoying it as well.

"Then we don't have time to be messing around." She said softly as she felt his fingers trace up her.

"We really shouldn't, but then again I think that it will be alright." He said as he lightly kissed her neck again making a soft moan escape her.

"Oh that feels good…" She said before groaned a little.

"What's wrong?" Thomas asked.

"I'm getting another cramp… They've been coming about every thirty minutes." She replied.

"Every thirty minutes? You aren't having contractions are you?" Thomas asked.

"No I'm not far along enough for that… Owww… Owww… Owww…" She said as she felt the cramps hurt worse.

"Come on let's get you to the medical room." Thomas said as he lifted Kiva up and began to carry her.

(Medical Room – Wayne Manor – Ten minutes later.)

Thomas looked at his father as Bruce came back from the other room with Diana.

"Kiva you're having contractions, you are dialated three centimeters. There is no doubt that you are having the babies now." Bruce said as he brought over a cold washcloth and handed it to Thomas.

"Lay on her forehead. Kiva we're calling your parents and we're going to transport up to the watchtower." Bruce said as he looked at the girl who was basically his daughter – in – law.

(Watchtower – Medical Room – twenty minutes later)

Shayera came in to see Kiva grabbing Thomas' hand and screaming that he did this to her. She smirked as she remembered a similar experience with John. The doctors all began to move in and one coached Kiva to push.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?" She shouted.

The next thirty minutes was something Kiva would remember for all of her life. She felt the movement of the babies in her and felt the first child being born. Moments passed and after both children had been born the doctors took them and came back into the room with Kiva and Thomas.

"Both children are underweight, but it appears that their lungs are matured. We need to keep them here until we are certain however that they will be alright." The doctor said to both parents.

"Can… Can we see them?" Thomas asked.

"Of course, when you are ready you can come and see them." The doctor said before he left.

(Six days later – Wayne Manor – Nursery)

Galatea looked at the two infants as she, Lara, Lois, and Diana stood in the nursery. Diana was practically glowing as she showed off her grandchildren. Kiva walked in a few minutes later and cooed to the babies as she took her little girl out of her crib first. They noticed that the girl had wings like her mother. The four older women watched as Kiva began to breast feed and slowly walked out giving the young mother some space.

(In the kitchen)

Lara looked at Diana as they all sat down around a small kitchen table.

"Diana, did the media ask questions about you and Superman?" Lara asked.

Lois raised an eyebrow but she let out a little chuckle.

"That old song and dance again." Lois said as she looked at Lara.

"They asked me about Superman, and when I wasn't interested they asked about my sexuality. It was a never ending barrage of questions, but after I publically married Bruce the questions began to end. Of course almost up to that creature… hurt Clark like it did I still got the occasional question if I was secretly seeing Superman. I never told them, but not only do I see Clark as a brother I would have been scared to cross Lois." Diana said with a soft smile.

"They've been hounding you huh?" Galatea asked as she sipped a cup of coffee.

"It's never ending. I expressed that I don't see K… Clark in that light and now they assume that I prefer women." Lara said as she sighed and munched on a carrot stick.

"Thank God I haven't had to deal with that. I get to be with Dick without a media circus. Speaking of which… Last night he did something that made my toes curl." Galatea said as she smiled looking satisfied.

"Well, what did he do?" Lois asked.

"Well it was starting out good, but then he picked me up and held me up by my thighs as he proceeded to lift and drop me on himself. It was so passionate and amazing." Galatea said as she sighed happily.

"I really don't want to be hearing this about my son – in – law." Diana said as she grimaced a little bit.

(Small Ville – Southside Drive-in)

Amber looked at the small restaurant as she sat down next to Kal. She liked his mom's and grandmother's cooking better, but for their first date it was nice. After a few minutes Kal brought her a cheeseburger, fries, and perhaps the biggest drink in all of Kansas.

"Woah… That comes with this?" Kiva asked.

"Sure, it's a super combo. It comes with a cheeseburger, order of fries, and 52 ounce rootbeer float." Kal said as he smiled and sat down next to her.

She smiled back at him and kissed him a little deeper than she had been doing.

"I'm glad that you could come and visit." Kal said.

"Well dad trusts me, and he knows that your dad and mom will keep an eye on us. Although I've been getting the talk about twice a day since Kiva got pregnant." Amber said as she groaned.


	12. Paranoia

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 12 'Paranoia'**_

(Arkham Asylum – Therapy room)

Dr. Crane looked at the newest psychologist as she entered the room. She was blond hair flowing down around her shoulders, but her face seemed to be the most enchanting part of her. She looked so much like the girl next door that Crane couldn't help but take a moment to study her before he studied the room to see where he could hide his fear gas. She waited for a moment and then closed the door.

"Dr. Crane… How would you like to be released to do your work again?" The woman asked.

Johnathan Crane looked at her and smiled, "I thought that you looked familiar. You're Luthor's child aren't you?" Johnathan asked.

"In a way. I'm afraid that your normal psychologist is going to be missing for some time." She said as she took off the fake glasses she was wearing.

"Well… What guarantee do I have that I won't just end up in Arkham again?" Johnathan asked.

"I give my word that you will not end up here again." Alexandra said as she smiled at him.

"Then I say 'When do we leave?'" He asked as a smirk crossed his lips.

(Watchtower – training room 7 – Reserve Leaguer's team training.)

Kal watched as the first of four bots shot out of the darkness toward him. He jumped into the air and was caught by a low blast of green energy. Suddenly he felt weak and dissy as he hit the ground. Amber ran toward him only to have a sudden high gravity field hit her making her slow and finally stop. The four bots continued toward the two reserve leaguers. Kal stood and stepped back. He had never felt so sick in his life. He grabbed the closest thing to him, but instead of fighting he aimed to where the energy that had struck Amber came from and threw the small metal bar toward it. A small shower of sparks fell and suddenly Amber could move. She rushed forward and vibrated her hand so fast that it went through the bot and destroyed it. The other three came toward her, but Kal jumped toward one making it face him.

Clark watched with Bruce as the two worked together and then he watched as Bruce did something different. The four bots fell, but another came into view. Amber ran toward it only to watch as it extended its hand and a field of energy formed around her. The energy began to tighten cutting off air supply. Kal began to rush toward the bot to disarm it, but it removed a pistol and fired. Clark watched as his son was thrown back in the air and landed hard. Bruce cut the training and walked down stairs with Clark.

"Why did you both fail this mission?" He asked as he looked at them.

"Can't I take a second to get up?" Kal asked.

Bruce walked over to him and instead of helping him up he did a quick jab to Kal's ribs making the half Kryptonian cry out in pain.

"Leave him alone!" Amber screamed as she rushed toward them only to get caught by Clark and forced to the ground.

"The people the League face on a daily bases. The real psychos and power hungry mad men will not stop and let you up. Most of them are going to be well prepared for your weaknesses." Tomorrow you will both redo this section of the training." Bruce said as he let Kal up.

Kal looked at his dad and Clark nodded.

"Batman is right Kal. You both need to be ready for almost anything. There are times when you'll have to make a choice. Your life, or the lives of millions. It's not easy, and I don't expect you to accept that you can't have happiness. I expect you to know that we have to put the mission first most of the time." Clark said.

Shortly after Bruce and Clark left Kal walked with Amber toward the cafeteria. For several seconds the young couple didn't say anything. Before they reached the cafeteria Kal took Amber's hand and held it gently. He felt her stop still facing toward the cafeteria before she turned toward him. The confusion, hints of anger, and gentle soul that resided inside of her spoke in volumes.

"They're not right about something." Kal said as he looked at her.

She grinned for a moment and began to turn when she felt his hand touch her cheek.

"Saving someone you care for comes first. We can never forget that." He said before he kissed her.

Amber returned the kiss in full. She wrapped her arms around him holding close to them as they kissed deeply and lovingly. After what seemed like both a lifetime and far too short of a time they pulled from the kiss. Kal saw the reflection of what he felt in Amber's eyes. She grinned and the both of them headed into the cafeteria together.

"Kal… Ummmm…" Amber began as she rubbed the back of her neck seemingly unsure of what to say or how to ask.

"What is it Amber?" Kal asked as he smiled at her.

"Would… Would you like to… God why is this so hard?" She asked as they each grabbed a tray full of food and sat down together. Kal smiled at her and leaned over kissing her cheek. She blushed a little and felt her heart soar.

"Kal I'm thinking of going to college in Metropolis… That is if you are…" She said sheepishly.

Kal looked stunned for a moment and then pulled Amber into a searing kiss. She moaned softly as they explored each other's taste for a moment. A slight cough caused them to stop and both looked at Wally who cocked an eyebrow at them.

"Kal… We've got to talk." Wally said as he sat down with them.

(Gotham University – Library – Honors Lounge)

Even though her leg had healed Hippolyta felt the tightly wrapped bandage her father made her wear. She would be lying though if she said that it didn't bring some comfort. That thing that had attacked her and Thomas had been the only thing to ever break anything of hers. Although at the moment she wasn't thinking of the creature, and she barely gave the bandage any thought. No right at this moment she was deep in the catacombs of Rikku's forgotten kingdom where she as a warrior, a boy next to her as a clergy, another girl as a thief, and Jackie as a chaos knight was searching for the Princess of Stormdom.

"The wet walls of the catacomb feel as if they are enclosing around you. Slowly the sounds of clicking can be heard further in the darkness. As you move lightly forward you can see the dim glow of left from traces of the damned." The player taking his turn as Dungonmaster said.

"I pull out my holy sword I bought from the clergy back in Stormdom." Hippolyta said as she mentally pictured the images of the catacomb.

"The clicking intensifies and within seconds you are surrounded by the damned. They have taken the bodies buried here as their hosts and reach for you. As they near you can feel them pull at your very life energies. Only the holy sword seems to keep them far enough back that they don't drain you completely, but its very presence draws them out." The Dungeonmaster said.

"I have a talisman given to me by the witch Circe for allowing her to live. I reveal it to the damned." Jackie said as he rolls.

"The Talisman along with the holy sword pushes the damned further back. In the distance you can hear the screams of a girl." The Dungeonmaster said

"I quickly check the damned surrounding areas for traps and for any weapons, gold, or magical items that may be of use to us later." One of the players said

"As you check you stumble onto a switch which causes part of the wall to move. As it moves out of the way you can hear the screaming as it sounds closer." The Dungeon master said.

"I head forward to invistagate." Hippolyta said as she rolled the dice.

"You see the princess. Her virtue is in danger from the dark demigod Herasesse." The Dungeon master said.

"I attack with my holysword!" Hippolyta said as she pictures the image.

"The dark demigod fights you back and forces you into a corner. Your armor is unable to withstand the power from his fists and he soon forces you to your knees." The dungeon master said before he looked a the clock.

"Guys D&D club time is over. Sorry but the Horror club has the lounge next. So you want to pick up from here next time?" the Dungeonmaster asked.

"Sounds good. See you tomorrow." Hippolyta said with a smile as she stood and walked out with Jackie.

"I was going to show up behind you." Jackie said as they walked out into the parking lot and stood next to his beat up 1977 ford truck.

"I know you would have. Thanks for inviting me to play Jackie I really am enjoying the games." Hippolyta said honestly.

"Not a problem, although the other guys are kind of angry that I keep pulling in the stuff from my masters into the game." Jackie said.

"I think that it adds some fun to have Greek history added into it. At least it is for me." She said as leaned forward and kissed him.

"Miss Wayne are you trying to seduce me?" Jackie asked with a little chuckle.

"Mr. Copeland if I was then I would already have you nude in my bed." Hippolyta said with a smile.

"Oh, hey before I forget my mom wanted me to give you this." Jackie said as he turned toward the truck and pulled out a sack.

Hippolyta opened it to see a batch of homemade pecan clusters. She smiled brightly and kissed Jackie again.

"You know I'm going to get used to getting one of those every day." Jackie said as he smiled.

"I hope so. So are you coming over to the house after while?" Hippolyta asked.

"Sure, Well if your dad doesn't mind. To be honest I would rather face down every creature I read about in every one of my Greek Mythology classes than to make Bruce Wayne angry. All he would have to do is put a mark through my name and any career I ever wanted would be gone." Jackie said as he shuttered.

_That's the best case scenario. If you knew about his alterego… I would rather face down Medusa without a blindfold, and no mirror! _Hippolyta thought as she kissed him.

"I'll be over in a couple of hours, unless you want a ride home?" Jackie asked.

"Actually… that would be wonderful." Hippolyta said as she walked around and climbed into the old truck.

(Batcave.)

Athena dodged the attack from her mother only to catch a surprise kick which sent her into the wall. She began to pull herself up and found herself being slammed hard and mercilessly to the mat as her mother pulled her arm roughly up behind her.

"Have you not been training?" Diana asked as she kept her daughter in the position she was in.

"I've trained just the same as you did!" Athena yelled as she tried to move.

"What the training your father suggested?" Diana asked.

"Well…" Athena began as Diana got up and shook her head.

"Do you know why your father has beaten me so often?" Diana asked as she looked at her daughter.

"Because you love him and want to make sure that his fragile ego is maintained." Athena said with a smirk.

"He beats me because of the fact that he knows practically every fighting style in the world. He trains himself to be at the of the game, and for that reason he can and has brought down beings far stronger than I am. When he offered you the chance to learn from him you should have taken it." Diana said.

"I… I just felt that it was important to keep our heritage alive." Athen said.

"Little Star it is, but part of our heritage is to better ourselves. To learn and adapt. Trust me listen to your father and learn what he offers to teach you." Diana said with a smile as she touched her daughter's cheek.

The sound of something falling could be heard and the both of them rushed upstairs to see Kiva trying to prepare dinner and in the floor was a roast.

"DAMN IT!" Kiva shouted as she sat down.

"It's alright." Diana said as she walked over to her now official Daughter-in-law.

"I just wanted to fix supper, and mom gave me this recipe… But I couldn't find the spices I needed and then the pot slipped… It's been a hell of a day… Where is Thomas when I need him?" Kiva asked with a smile.

"He'll be back from the mission before too long." Diana said as the three women heard crying from the other room.

"Thana and Bruce." Kiva said as they walked into the room and saw the two little bundles crying.

Athena smiled softly as she lifted little Bruce and tickled his chin.

"You are so precious." She said to her nephew.


	13. Fearful

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 13 'Fearful'**_

(Wayne Manor – Two weeks later)

Despite Athena's disbelieving attitude toward about Hippolyta's choice of a boyfriend Jackie seemed to get along with both of Hippolyta's parents and even with her younger brother. They were surprised to find out that Jackie was the tri state fencing champion going on to nationals this year. He explained that the entire reason he got into the sport was because of his father taking him to the renaissance fair and watching the sword fights the 'knights' would perform for the audience.

The more Jackie came and visited the more it seemed that he would possibly become part of the family. Seeing this Bruce knew that Hippolyta needed to know what it could mean for not only her, but for Jackie himself if it got that far.

(Study)

Hippolyta walked into the study and looked at her father sitting down in front of a chess board. The fact that her father had game of stragity out wasn't surprising. What was surprising was that he was using the game as a way to talk to her and she knew it.

"What's wrong dad?" She asked as she sat down and moved a pawn out.

"How well do you like him Hippolyta?" He asked before he moved his own pawn out to meet hers.

"Jackie's great. He's a sweetheart and has never once tried to take advantage of me. He's not like the muscle bound jocks that have tried to impress me for the last three years of college." She said as she moved another piece.

"Do you see a future with him?" Bruce asked as he began to play a little more aggressively.

"Maybe… I don't know really. I mean sure I would like to… I just don't… I really don't know how he would be affected by… you know all of this." She said getting it out and moving with more caution.

"The fact that he is a fencing champion means that he does possess skills enough to protect himself to a degree, but that's not what you are really worried about is it?" He asked.

"I'm scared that he'll… I'm scared he might be left alone for the rest of his life if something happens to me, and I'm worried that one of our enemies may attempt to use him against me, but I don't want to lose him either." She said has her playing started to become more defensive than offensive.

"The fact is Hippolyta you may lose him no matter how you go. Each choice you make is like this chess board. It has a possible outcome for your benefit, or one for your destruction. I know that you'll make a great decision. I've always known you to be nothing if not decisive and intelligent." Bruce said as he moved his knight.

"Check." Bruce said as he looked at his daughter.

Studying the board Hippolyta realized that in order to win she would have to sacrifice the queen, and most likely the rook. Knowing that she continued to play bringing herself out of check and losing her queen. Soon after she lost the rook, but within seconds she moved her bishop and looked at her father.

"Checkmate." She said as she smiled in triumph.

(Grayson house – Kitchen)

Galatea smiled as the smell of fresh baked apple pie filled the kitchen she and Dick had put together. If anyone had told her back when she was at Cadmus that she would love cooking she would have said they were full of shit. But the truth was she did love it. She loved being a mom, and she loved being with Dick and cooking for their family. She pulled the apple pie out and placed it on the window to allow it to cool. She bent over and began digging out the meatloaf pan when she felt a pair of hands behind her. The hands moved from her hips to her waist as someone leaned into her.

"Hey sexy lady." Dick's voice said as he gently lifted her up against him.

"Hey yourself." She practically purred as she felt him slide his hands under the sun yellow blouse she was wearing.

"The kids are out of the house. Mary is on a date with Johnny, Hermes said that he and Olivia are going to see a movie so it's just us tonight." He said as he kissed her neck.

"So what did you have planned for us tonight?" She asked hoping that he would say what she really wanted him to say.

"I thought that we could start here in the kitchen, and see where it ends up." He said as he began to move the blouse up and off of her.

"Sounds like a plan to me." She said as she turned around and began helping him strip off as well.

For the next three hours they made love starting on the kitchen table and soon moving to the floor. He chased her through the house the both of them acting like a couple of love sick teenagers barely able to keep their hands off of each other. By the time they ended up in bed both felt completely sated and fulfilled.

"I love you so much Dick… I mean it." Galatea said as she kissed his neck.

"I love you too Galatea." He said to her.

Galatea moved toward Dick and snuggled against him. She felt his arms wrap around her and although her strength was far above his being in his arms made her feel safe. It was as if the love between them could protect her from anything and everything that could ever come against her. She felt the strong rhythm of his heart as they lay in bed. The sound was so soothing and peaceful that she felt herself becoming lost in it. Her eyes began to close when the sound of the house phone began to resonate through the house. She groaned and began to sit up. Turning her feet felt the cool hard wood floor below her as she stepped out of bed and found a pair of slippers before she found a blue terrycloth robe and pulled it on. Within a second she found the phone and clicked it on.

"Hello?" She said as she answered the phone.

"Mom…" The weak sound of Hermes voice said over the phone before a sickening laugh began to fill connection.

"Who are you?" Galatea screamed through the phone.

"You'll find out soon enough." a sinister voice said over the phone.

(New York – Luthor Corp Building)

Scarecrow laughed as he hung up the phone and turned toward Hermes and Olivia. The girl was already screaming in fear and curled up in a corner pleading for some monster that terrorized her as a child to leave her alone. He looked at Hermes who was laying on the ground bleeding from a Kryptonite blade Red X held in his hand.

"Doc… Do you have something powerful enough to bring down a Kryptonian?" Jason asked as he ran the knife down Hermes' arm.

Crane simply pulled a small tank out and looked at Jason.

"I designed this to take down Superwoman. I believe it will work on any meta." Crane said as he admired Olivia screaming and crying in the corner.

(Grayson house – twenty minutes later)

Diana and Bruce stood in Galatea's living room as she finished telling what happened a few minutes ago. The look of panic was clear on her face as she went over it.

"We'll find him Gala." Dick said as walked over to her.

She turned toward him and buried her face in his shoulder. Dick held her as her sobs began to overtake her. Despite being one of the strongest beings on Earth she was a mother who was scared for her child.

"My baby… God my baby!" She cried out as she sobbed into his shoulder.


	14. Old Fears

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 14 'Old Fears'**_

(New York – Lex Corp Building)

Red X watched as the girl screamed and cried. Her thrashing was becoming more animalistic by the second. He turned toward Crane who was writing down notes and seemed to be completely lost in the moment of watching the girl.

"What's going to happen to her Doc?" Red X asked.

"Soon the terror in her mind will over whelm her completely. She will have the choice of facing those terrors, or of completely losing her mind. Most people simply lose their minds because they lack the mental discipline to successfully face their fears." Dr. Crane said as he turned back toward Hermes and watched the half Kryptonian as he groaned in pain.

"This one won't last much longer." Crane said as he nudged Hermes shoulder.

"He'll be fine. Our employer said that she would ensure he would survive just fine." Red X said as he watched the door open and a woman stepped in. She walked toward Hermes and stopped for a second. Slowly she knelt down next to him and gently touched his cheek. She shook her head and stood up walking toward Jason.

"My connection to my 'half sister' isn't as strong as her bond to her twin, but she will be here soon. Crane what we discussed be sure it is ready to go." Alexandra said as she looked toward Olivia.

Quickly Alexandra walked toward the girl and quickly took pictures with her cell phone as the daughter of Oliver and Dinah Queen clawed her arms trying to get whatever was on her off.

"Send these pictures to the Queens. The phone itself is a charge and drop. Give them a ransom demand. Be creative and make sure to tell them that you want it hand delivered." Alexandra said as she smiled to Jason.

"The Doc said that she'll lose her mind before long. Do you want her to receive the antidote?" Jason asked.

"Absolutely not. Let her go insane." Alexandra said as she walked toward the wall and smiled.

"The beginning is also the end." She said with a small chuckle.

(Grayson house – Living Room – Twenty minutes later)

Bruce had already contacted the league to trace Hermes' communicator. He then sat down and began to remotely access the Wayne Tech phone service to track Hermes' cell phone. A few minutes later he smirked as he saw the cell emitting a weak signal in New York. He began typing furiously and soon the digital map began to pull down further. He watched the location of cell phone was between the theater Hermes and Olivia had went to and Luthor Corp's New York Tower.

"Batman… We can't locate the communicator." J'onn said after a few moments.

"J'onn I need you to contact Arrow and Canary. Both of them need to be informed of what is going on." Bruce said before he cut off of the communicator.

"Dick, We need to check out the Luthor building." Bruce said as he stood.

"Those two… If they have hurt him… I swear I'll teach them the meaning of pain." Galatea said as she tried to compose herself.

Diana looked at her daughter-in-law with complete understanding. She had seen Thomas hurt before, and her reaction had been to attack the creature that had caused it. Now Galatea was in a similar situation and she would help her daughter-in-law in any and every way that she could.

(Oliver and Dinah's Summer Penthouse – Manhattan New York)

Dinah looked over the list of appearances she and Ollie had to make for the various humane society benefits, and various union benefits that Ollie had insisted be held. She heard her phone going off and pulled it out. She quickly clicked the soft key sending her straight to a video of Olivia Queen clawing her arms and screaming in terror.

"OLLIE!" Dinah screamed as she watched her daughter screaming in terror at an unknown source.

Oliver came into the room and saw the video on the camera. He pressed the communicator to call the watchtower, but instead was contacted by J'onn. Dinah looked at him and then a moment later a voice appeared on the video.

"Your daughter is quite entertaining, but we are willing to part with her. Bring fifteen million in a mixture of cash, transferrable bonds, and jewelry. Be at this address in less than two hours. Failure to do so will result in a very, very bad night for your daughter." The sinister voice said before the video ended.

(Luthor Corp Building – New York – Room where Hermes and Olivia Queen are being held in)

Hermes opened his eyes and looked around the room. He felt bandages on his arms and heard someone humming lightly. He strained his eyes and saw a woman who looked like his mother in the darkness, but she smelled different. He didn't smell the little things about his mother on this woman. She didn't have the smell of their kitchen, or of his mother's favorite perfume on this woman. He began to sit up and found a hand on chest.

"Lay back down." The woman said as she turned on a light.

As he looked at her he realized that this woman could easily have been his mother's sister. She had strawberry blond hair, her face looked much like his mother's except for her green eyes, her voice sounded nearly the same with the exception of a coldness in her voice.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked as he tried the restraints on his arms.

She clicked her tongue and looked toward the door.

"There are some things you can't help. A scorpion can't help that it will attack almost anything including someone who is only trying to help it. A rattle snake can't help that it will strike and possibly kill someone who protect it from poaching, and I can't help that I was born to take down the justice league. My Father made it very clear that his one wish was for us, my brother and I, to destroy the league and everyone connected to it. I find myself unable to kill you. I think that it is because of my 'half' sister. My connection to her also gives me the bond that she has with you. Actually with you and your sister. I could no more kill you than I could cut off my own hand, but I need to keep you here so that I can do what I am suppose to. Go to sleep, and tomorrow things will be different." She said as she stood.

"Don't please… don't do this. You don't have to do any of this." He said as he looked at her.

She rested her hand on the door frame for a moment and then shook her head.

"I am what I am child. I can't help that." She said as she squeezed the steel door frame and caused it to bend inward.

(Basement of Luthor Corp Building – Sewer Access)

Bruce quickly moved into the basement and listened for any sound that would indicate guards, but to his surprise he heard nothing. He looked back to see Diana, Dick, and Galatea move into the same room and then he heard a soft chuckle fill the air.

"You know Batman we've played before, but not like this. This time I've outdone myself." Crane's voice echoed through the basement. The darkness of the basement began to change.

As Bruce walked he began to see old brick buildings on either side. He slowly turned and looked behind him to see no one else around and then looked ahead of him to see two shadowy figures walking further down the alley. He began to move toward them and then saw a man step out from the shadows holding a dingy and dirty gun. The man aimed it at the first figure and stretched out his hand. He watched as the man turned toward the second figure and grabbed a string of pearls from her neck. Slowly the figures began to take shape and became solid. He looked at his father attempt push the man back from his mother and the gun went off. Suddenly the man aimed it at his mother and shot her causing her to fall. Next the man turned the gun toward him.

"Tell me kid, ever dance with the Devil in the pale moon light?" The man asked as he pulled the hammer back.

The sound of sirens began to fill the air and the man turned and ran down the alley. Bruce cleared his head. This was just the fear gas and he was not in the alley. He was in the basement of Luthor Corp's New York tower. He walked a few steps and turned to see Diana being held up by Lexington Luthor. His eyes widened as he watched the demented son of Lex Luthor strip her bodice off and roughly grab her.

"You are a thorough bred aren't you?" Lexington asked has he back handed Diana into a wall causing the Amazon Princess to stumble for a second before the twisted son of Lex Luthor casually walked toward her and kicked her hard in the ribs.

"My father said to kill all of the Justice League, but instead… Instead I'm going to do something better to you. Why kill you when I can just make you a whore. A lifetime being subjected to the worst kind of torment for an Amazon." Lexington said as he began to lift her again and Bruce ran forward only to find himself moving through them like smoke.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" Bruce shouted as he pulled the Kryptonite ring Clark had entrusted him with and swung at Lexington only to watch his fist pass through him.

"It's not real." Bruce said as he slowed his breathing and the vision passed. He closed his eyes and made his hand find his belt. He quickly injected the antidote into his blood stream and then listened to the area around him.

(Galatea's delusion)

Galatea watched as Alexandra Luthor lifted Dick by his throat. She rushed forward only to feel the floor grab her ankles and her wrists. Alexandra kissed Dick on the cheek and then began to squeeze her hand close. Galatea watched as Alexandra's fingers moved into Dick's throat and then she pulled them roughly out. The evil daughter of Lex Luthor laughed as Dick thrashed on the floor for several seconds. Screaming in rage Galatea ripped free from the force holding her and flew straight toward Alexandra.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Galatea screamed as she reached the half kryptonian and slammed her hard into the wall.

The daughter of Lex Luthor hit her, but Galatea didn't feel it. She felt nothing inside except for the hurt, anger, and hate all caused by vicious bitch in her grasp. Another hard strike, but again she ignored it. Nothing matter except for getting vengeance for Dick. She heard a choked sob coming from Alexandra and slowly a familiar hand touched her back. She turned to see Dick standing behind her and looked back in front of her to see Dinah Queen. The Black Canary looked to be hurt, and Galatea quickly did a check with her X-ray vision to see that she had broke two of Dinah's ribs, cracked her hip, and caused some internal bruising.

"Oh God, Oh God Dinah I'm so sorry." Galatea said as lowered her son's girlfriend's mother to the floor.

Bruce looked to see Diana fighting with Oliver and quickly made his way toward her. He could hear her shouting that she was going to kill him for killing Bruce. Quickly he threw the antidote toward Diana and watched as the dart hit and quickly injected her with the antitoxin. Slowly Diana shook her head and looked at Oliver who had been dodging her attacks for the last few minutes.

"Someone intended for us to tear each other apart down here." Bruce said as he looked toward the door and could still hear Crane cackling over the intercom.

"It's not over Batman. That batch of fear will resurface a few times before the night is out." Crane said over the intercom.

"I wondered where you had took off to Crane." Bruce said as he checked the door for traps.

"Oh I've been busy setting up my greatest experiment in fear. This entire building and all within it are my test subjects." He said with another chuckle.


	15. Living Nightmares

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 15 'Living Nightmares'**_

(Luthor Tower – New York – First Floor)

The moment the six leaguers stepped onto the floor they saw what had been a state of the art business doing its best impersonation of the first level of hell. Men and women screamed in terror as they attempted to tear each other apart. The viciousness of the attacks didn't seem to have any limits as the attackers tore at each other in some cases stripping flesh from the victim's bones.

"Amazonian, Batgirl both of you report to the Luthor Tower in New York. Use the antidote for the Fear toxin before you arrive. Bring the aerosol canisters of the antidote, and get here twenty minutes ago." Bruce growled into the communicators.

Within seconds both Athena and Hippolyta appeared inside of the tower and both young women held three canisters apiece. Seeing what was going on they quickly sprinted toward the ventilation access point and began pumping the antidote into the vents. After a few minutes the employees began to show some signs of returning to their senses, but there were still several who were just too far gone. Bruce, Dick, and Oliver managed to hold the poor souls who had been permently changed due to the fear toxin back as Galatea, Diana, Dinah, Hippolyta, and Athena all three headed up toward the top floor.

(Top floor of Luthor Tower – New York)

Red X stood ready as the door buckled and the moment the first face came through the door he unleashed a strange white light on the invader. The girl moved and slowed as she felt herself grow weak. Grinning he ran toward her and kicked her hard in the chest sending her flying into the wall behind her.

"How does it feel to have your powers suddenly gone?" He asked as he looked at Athena.

She tried to move to block him, but the weapon fired again striking her sister. The villain laughed with glee as he turned the weapon toward Diana only to find a golden lasso wrapped around it and jerking it from his hands. Diana placed the weapon behind her and moved toward Red X. As she flew he held his palm toward her and suddenly a red blur struck her on her face causing her to go blind. Diana hit the wall behind him and listened to the room around her. Red X then faced both Galatea and Dinah.

"Well… I should say that I am impressed, but really I can't believe three of the league's heroes have fallen so easily. It's almost as if I have planned this in advanced." Jason said as he pulled out a kryptonite blade and held it in his hand.

"I'm going to show you the meaning of pain little man." Galatea said as she shot her heat vision toward his hand only to watch Red X jump and press a button on his wrist.

When he did several panels moved back on the walls to reveal red sun lamps. Each one quickly turned on and flooded the entire room. Galatea felt her energy draining from her and tried to stand. Suddenly she heard Dinah scream in pain as Red X kicked her in her already broken ribs and then his attention turned toward Galatea.

"You look a lot like Alexandra, and I've to admit that she has been the most fantastic fuck doll I've had in a long time. Time and things change though. She doesn't know it, but I am planning on killing her and her brother before too long. Take over the empire so to speak." He said as he held the blade to Galatea's chest.

"You're nothing you know that? You're just a flavor of the week to her, and I should know. The bond works both ways. She's seen what I have in my marriage and she wants the same. She knows she'll never have it with you. You're just as expendable to her." Galatea said with a smirk

"Shut up… You don't know what you're talking about!" He growled.

"She's been forgetting your name in bed hasn't she? Noticed the way she's been looking at stable men? It won't be long before she has you done in and finds someone who can and will do for her that you can't." Galatea said before she grabbed his hand and tossed him over her. He landed with a thud against one of the lamps and the moment it was destroyed the entire link for the lights began to flicker and then all of the red sun lamps went black.

Galatea stumbled for a moment. She felt severely weakened, but she needed to find Hermes. Her son came first before everything else. A slow hiss gained her attention and she looked as a door opened. Standing there wearing a black belted low cut Donna Karan jacket and black Donna Karan strapless matte Jersey Dress was Alexandra Luthor. The light gold buttons on the black jacket made her stand out as if she was a ligament business woman and not a vicious, backstabbing, twisted bitch she knew Alexandra to be.

"Where is my son?" Galatea asked as she heard both Athena and Hippolyta figure out how to reverse the effects of the weapon that was used on them a few moments ago.

"He's fine. I must say having children seems to have set well with you. Being that we're sisters I have to say I'm a little jealous. I would have thought that your breasts would have started to sag, or perhaps you would have an obvious increase in your waist, but instead you look amazing. It's a shame that I'll have to kill you. That I have to kill all of you including that delicious husband of yours." Alexandra said as she narrowed her eyes at Galatea and ran out toward her half sister.

She almost made it when she felt a hard kick to the solar plexus. She stumbled backward and looked to see a recovered Diana no longer sporting the X that had been shot over her eyes. A few moments later both Hippolyta and Athena stood next to their mother.

"Really? I'm a kryptonian. I can mop the floor with all three of you 'ladies'." Alexandra said as she removed the jacket and placed it neatly on a chair.

Alexandra felt the first punch to her gut and groaned as she stumbled forward. She looked to see the Amazon dressed in full battle armor pull her fist back and quickly slammed her knee up. The moment her jaw was connected to the knee Alexandra began to see stars. She stumbled back and tried to shake off the effects.

"You're Amazons! Nothing more than class 2 strength meta humans! I should be able to rip you apart!" She growled as she steadied herself.

Athena grabbed Alexandra's wrist and pulled it hard behind the half Kryptonian's back. She heard the business woman whimper for a moment in pain.

"Strength has nothing to do with skill. Now where is her son?" Athena asked as she smirked at the bracelet she had slipped onto Alexandra before the fight began.

It had been modeled after Lex's Power nullifier he had used on the Justice Lords with the one exception that once it was taken off the target's powers would return.

"In there… They're both in that room." Alexandra said in defeat as she felt her other wrist being brought up behind her and the golden lasso being wrapped around them.

Diana opened the door to see Hermes screaming in terror. Standing over both of the children was Dr. Jonathan Crane. Crane laughed as he kept the mask pumping the fear toxin into Hermes over the boy's nose and mouth.

"Crane what you are doing?" Alexandra shouted.

"My dear, I truly appreciate what you've done for me by setting me free, but did you really think that I would pass up an opportunity to use such a specimen for my research? Or did you think that yourself or the rest of New York was above it? While I've been here I've connected my canisters to every water main in New York. They've already been ingesting my toxins and within a few hours a timed release of red sun radiation will hit the earth and cause my toxin to activate. Think of it the entire city will begin seeing their worst fears and its all thanks to you my dear." Crane said as he looked toward Alexandra.

A sinking feeling began to spread through the stomach of one of the most powerful and influential women in the world. She had let her father's desire to destroy the league release this mad man's sick experiment upon untold millions of people. Her father… He believed that normal working class people was there for no other reason than to step on and use to haul himself higher, but her connection with her 'sister' had shown her what living with a family, a real family had been like.

"He's using Lex Corp's orbiting satellite. It was designed by my father to pin point various cities on earth and emit a large amount of red sun radiation for several hours. Get me to a console and I'll deactivate it." Alexandra said as she looked at Crane with anger clearly in her eyes.

"You've developed a councious… I think that your father would have been very disappointed. But then I planned for this." He said as he raised his palm toward her and unleashed a cloud of his fear toxin toward her.

Alexandra coughed and stepped back. She tried to see past the blurry vision and finally things began to clear. She looked to her left and saw her father standing there.

"Well, well, well… If it isn't my little princess. Tell me did killing me make any difference at all? Didn't think so. You're still like me and so is your worthless brother. To make matters worse you are so like me that you can't decide if you want to play it straight or take over the world." Lex said as he slapped her hard knocking her to the ground.

"I made you from Cadmus' little mistake. That in itself should tell you how worthless you are. You're nothing but a stupid little failure with a prostitute's figure. I should have let you and your brother waste away in those tubes." He said as he kicked her hard in the ribs.

"I'm sorry!" She shouted as grabbed her by the back of her dress and tore at it.

"Spending a fortune on clothes won't hide the fact of what you are!" He shouted as he kicked her in the stomach sending her flying backward.

"I bet that you are thinking this is just Crane's fear toxin. That once it runs its course you will be free of me. You're wrong little girl." He said as he grabbed her by her hair and looked into her eyes with the most vicious eyes she had ever seen.

"I've been waiting to get at you since you turned on me. I've hung around until something could cause you to sense my presence and now I am going to be tormenting you for the rest of your life. Maybe I'll tear your soul apart and let it heal only to do it again, or maybe I'll take over your body and make you do things to yourself that will not only ruin your image, but get you sent to the asylum by your brother. I could stay dormant until you find a man and start a family. Then have you rip them all to shreds. Doesn't that sound like fun?" He shouted the question.

"Please… father… Please don't do this!" She cried as she felt herself lift into the air.

(From outside of Alexandra's delusion)

Diana watched as Alexandra lifted into the air and choked as if someone was physically choking her. The half Kryptonian tried to scream as her dress ripped and something was starting to cut into her. She pulled Alexandra away from it and the air grew still around them. Diana felt the room's temperature drop considerably and then a force kicked her away from Alexandra. She looked toward the daughter of Lex Luthor only to see a spiritual form of Lex himself standing there his hand gripped around her throat and another hand holding a spectral knife he was using to cut her with.


	16. Redemption

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 16 'Redemption'**_

(Watchtower – two hours after rescuing both Hermes and Olivia)

Zatanna looked at Diana and Galatea. Inside of a sealed room Alexandra Luthor was sleeping after going through an exhausting cleansing ritual. The magic user before them walked a few steps and poured herself a glass of wine. That in itself told both women that she had something tell them, and it wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Luthor won't stop. He's been able to contact her and it won't take long for him to contact Lexington. I managed to separate her from his attacks, but to be honest what I've done is given her a few hours at best. He's going to come for her again, and this time he might go out of his way to kill Superman and anyone connected with him." Zatanna said as she finished the glass of wine and sat down.

"Isn't there anything that you can do?" Diana asked.

"Sure, if we could get Lex's body and bring it back to life or get an exact copy we could trap him in his flesh. He would essentially be alive again. That would stop these attacks, but then we would have the problem of the original Lex with all of the knowledge he now has from being in the other side. He would be ten times as dangerous as he was before." Zatanna said as she looked at them both.

Galatea stood and walked a bit. Since they were in a kitchette she knew where a few things was and reached up into a cupboard and pulled down a can of cherry pie filling, some flour, and got a few eggs from the small refregator. Diana watched as she began to work on a pie and marveled at how skilled her daughter – in – law had become. With a few moments Galatea finished making the crust, found a pie pan, placed the crust in it, poured in the filling and then turned and put the pie into the oven. When she did she looked back at Zatanna.

"Sorry, I've found that doing little things like that help to clear my mind and give me a chance to really think about things. I don't trust Alexandra. I really don't trust her, but then again I don't think that she deserves being ripped apart by Lex either. If we can get a D.N.A. imprint of him then I say we trap him in a cloned body. If worse comes to worse I'm sure that we can find enough evidence on him to place him in Strikers for the rest of his natural life." Galatea said.

(Central City – Amber West's house later that evening.)

Amber nervously looked at the mirror. She knew she shouldn't feel nervous after all she had already been on several dates with Kal before, but this was different. This was prom. The fact that Central City's school systems held their prom in the winter didn't make things better. She looked at her dress and wondered if her mom and dad would even let her walk out of the house dressed like this. The scarlet dress was v cut down to the point that it revealed her modest cleavage. It was nights like this that she was really jealous of Mary Grayson and her curvy figure, _Why can't I have cures like Mary? _Amber thought to herself as she looked at the mirror and felt a little doubt and worry wondering if Kal would think she was pretty enough. Her thoughts once again fell on Mary Grayson. _Damn if that girl kept growing she doubted if she would fit into a sweater let alone a prom dress_, she thought as a smile crossed her lips. She looked again in the mirror and turned around to show the backless dress coming to rest right above her hips diving close, but yet still covering up her butt.

"God, please let him like this." She asked in a whisper before she slipped on a couple of diamond ear rings in the shapes of little lightning bolts.

She opened the door and heard the room grow quiet.

"Oh my god you look so beautiful." Linda West said as she walked to her daughter and smiled at her.

"Put on a sweater." Wally said as he looked at her.

"Dad…" Amber said as she rolled her eyes.

Within a few moments there was a knock at the door and Amber opened it to see Kal standing there in a tux that he appeared to be very uncomfortable in. He smiled at her and offered her a rose. She smiled at him and took it smelling the beautiful aroma. She looked behind him to see Kal's mother and father standing there smiling.

"Ummm Won't you all come in?" She asked as she stepped back.

"Clark, Lois." Wally said as he smiled at them.

"Wally." Clark said before Lois smiled and produced a camera.

"Don't tell me you haven't already gotten pictures." Lois said as she looked at Linda.

"Actually I was getting ready to." Linda admitted.

"Then it's perfect we can snap a few pictures and get them developed while Clark and Wally take us out on the town." Lois said as she began taking pictures of Kal and Amber.

Kal took Mary's arm and the two of them walked out toward a limo that already had to other occupants inside of it. Amber looked to see her brother Johnny with his arm around Mary who was sporting a dress she was surprised her mother allowed her to walk out of the house with.

"Wow… Zip you look good." Johnny said as he looked at his sister.

"Thanks." She said as she blushed.

"You do look beautiful." Kal said as he kissed her cheek.

Amber smiled brightly and couldn't help but feel all sorts of warm and fuzzies inside as they drove toward the school's gym. Every year the school had some kind of prom theme, and this year they chose 'Justice League' as the theme. Amber smiled as they stepped out of the car and looked to see half a dozen girls wearing modern variations of the chitons that Diana, Hippolyta, and Athena often wore on the watchtower. As they walked through the doors the theme continued as the committee attempted, and of course got it very wrong, to recreate the inside of the Watchtower. Dozens of real and fake monitors lined the walls, a large 'Greek' style statue stood in the middle of the dance floor.

"Do you want to dance?" Kal asked as he took her hand.

Amber smiled brightly as the two of them took to the floor. She smiled gently as they began to slow dance to an older ballad. She peeked over toward Mary and watched as her brother danced with her obviously enjoying having his date so close against him. Kal stopped dancing for a moment as he listened to the air and then looked at Amber with concern in his eyes.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I heard something in one of the rooms… It might be nothing, but…" He said and she nodded. Following him they walked out of the gym into the locker and shower rooms. At this point she could hear it as well.

"Mr. Conner this is the seventh time you've been late on your payments. I'm an understanding man, but this is business. Now do you have my money or do I take your daughter as payment?" An older voice said.

"Leave her alone!" A boy Amber knew shouted before the sound of something slicing and squishy could be heard.

Amber placed her hand over her mouth as she heard the boy groan.

"Tony! God Tony no!" The girl shouted and the sound of a hand striking could be heard.

"We've got less time to talk business Mr. Conner." The older voice said.

Amber looked toward Kal who walked toward a locker and carefully removed the tux he was in. She looked to see his Superman uniform under it and she moved quickly toward the ladies locker room. She opened her locker and pressed against the false back. Under it was the spare uniform she had. It was a couple of years old, but it should work. She changed as quickly as she could and ran back before Kal walked down toward the voices.

"I suggest that you stop what you are doing right now." Kal said.

One of the men laughed thinking it was just a kid dressed up for the prom and tried to knife him only to watch the blade bend instead of go inside of its target.

"Jesus it's the real one!" the thug said as he scooted back.

"Shoot him!" An older business man said as he studied Kal.

Several shots rang out, but Kal stood as they harmlessly bounced off. He stepped forward and took the first man's gun but watched as another goon grabbed the girl in her Super Woman inspired dress and held a gun to her head.

"It won't bounce off of her. Now back off." The goon said as the older business man grinned.

Before anything could happen the man looked at his hand to see his gun had been replaced with a banana. He looked to see Streak smiling with the pieces of his gun laying at her feet. She almost began to laugh when the older business man fired something from his sleeve that just barely missed the young super hero. She looked to see where the floor now had a huge hole in it.

"This is a very unfortunate set of events. I was supposed to bring that girl back with me. She was to be the female I was going to trade for more weapons. Granny is not going to be pleased." The man said as he tried to fire the weapon again but this time Amber was able to get around him and quickly disarmed him only to receive a jab to her stomach. She felt as several thousand volts went through her and she dropped to her knees.

"But a female hero might be worth more." He said before he looked up to see a goon come flying at him. Kal walked over to Amber and helped her up.

"Sorry about Prom." He said as he touched his forehead to hers.

"It's all part of being a hero I guess. We should call the cops and have them in and clean this up." She said before she kissed him softly.

Kal walked with her toward the end of the room and dialed the telephone. The moment the dispatcher answered he filled them in on where they were, what was going on, and that a young man needed medical attention right now. The prom ended when the police arrived and both Kal and Amber stayed in uniform and gave statements. When the police left they both changed back quickly and walked up and out of the fake watchtower to find the limo waiting on them.

"Well… Since something broke up prom what do you guys want to do?" Mary Grayson asked.

"I'd like finish our dance." Amber said as she leaned into Kal.

(Watchtower – Council room)

Galatea finished revealing the idea to the council and took a seat. She wanted to be home for a variety of reasons. Mary went to Prom tonight, Hermes was going through detox along with Olivia Queen, and she really needed to feel Dick's arms around her right now. She didn't tell the others, but being that close to Alexandra she had felt some of Luthor's attacks.

"Zatanna do you agree that this is the best course of action?" Bruce asked as he looked at the magic user.

"It's the only course of action that is going to stop Luthor from attacking in a spirit form. Like it or not we have to give Luthor his life back." Zatanna said.

"Superman will not like being left out of this." Lara said as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Like it or not we have to make a decision that is best for the team. We have Luthor's DNA on file so creating a cloned body isn't a problem. Zatanna is doing this going to be a problem on your end?" Bruce asked.

"No, but we need to do it quickly." She said.

With a nod of agreement the council separated and Zatanna waited until everyone but herself, Galatea, Diana, and Bruce was left in the room.

"Bruce how are you going to get a cloned body for him?" She asked.

"Luthor was vain enough that he already cloned himself. I checked on it before and under the tower we fought Crane at is a lab. He had cloned himself a younger body with every intention of transferring his mind over to it. We just need to teleport it to where we need it." Bruce said.


	17. Renewed Life

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 17 'Renewed Life'**_

(Gotham – Coven's Alter (Large room under the cemetery located inside of an old abandoned subway station 3 hours later))

Zatanna stood in a long black flowing robe. It had been years since she had even seen a restored life, and that was when John had traveled to hell to retrieve a lost soul and reunite it with its original body. Still this was the best hope they had, and she wasn't going to fail. She watched as Diana and Bruce entered. Between the two of them was a stretcher holding a young looking Lex Luthor. They moved the body onto the alter Zatanna had marked out. Diana looked at Zatanna's dress and before she could commit she was handed a similar robe.

"Bruce, you can't be in here. Believe much of magic, especially very specific and delicate magic, is based on faith. I know that you believe in the existence of the energy that makes up magical abilities and spells, but the scientific faith you have will only hamper this, and to be honest I haven't done anything this delicate before." Zatanna said as she watched Bruce grumble and then turn to leave.

Diana looked at the robe and then back at Zatanna. From where Bruce had stood he couldn't see it, but where she was standing she could see that Zatanna wore nothing under the robe and that five different pictures had been drawn on her. Diana looked at Zatanna who was lifting a brush that had been sitting inside of a container made from a large tortoise shell.

"Diana I doubt that it will bother you to change into the robes. The ritual calls for any who are to here with in the room to be dressed as such." Zatanna said as she watched Diana disrobe and pull on the black robe. Zatanna quickly painted the symbols on Diana as well. She stood and waited for a moment before Inza appeared. The wife of Dr. Fate took a robe and quickly painted herself in a similar fashion.

"Ancient ones from before time itself I call to you. I call to the winds, the earth, the sun, the water, and to life itself. A stolen life and restless spirit loosed in the world threatens to unbalance what was balanced. I call upon your powers to reunite him with this body. Trap Lex Luthor inside of a prison of his own flesh." Zatanna said as she began the spell.

"Gods of the underworld narrow his path. Deny him entrance to the other world give him pull only to this body which lays here before us." Inza said as the room began to glow a dark crimson.

A dark shadow formed on the wall and from it stepped the queen of the underworld Persephone stepped from the shadows. She walked toward the body and marked his forehead and wrists. Suddenly the body took in a deep breath and Diana watched as the spirit form of Lex Luthor was sucked in through the mouth of the body.

"It is done." Persephone said as she stepped back into the darkness.

For a moment Luthor did nothing but lay there. Slowly his fingers began to twitch and then his eyes flung open.

"Deathsyth." He said in a low voice.

Zatanna looked behind her and watched the wall start to change.

"I came prepared for any you might have invited with you Mr. Luthor." Inza said as she cast a hand full of sand toward the wall and they watched as a form become solid and then hardened into the stone.

"Return to the pit from whence you came." Inza said to the creature and watched as it shattered.

"Returning me to life won't save my children. It won't save him or his son either. I've seen more and know more than anyone alive." Lex said as he tried to get up only to find that when he moved the marks Persephone had left on him prevented him to leave.

"I believe this is why Zatanna wished for me to stay." Diana said as she held her golden lasso.

"Release me 'Wonder Woman' and I promise I won't destroy your homeland." Lex said in a harsh voice.

"You've been granted life again, and you've been marked by Persephone herself. You can no more threaten me than you could lift the Earth. Know this Lex Luthor if you come near Superman or his family with deadly intentions Persephone's marks will drop you to the ground like the dog you are. You will be released but not before we have left." Diana said as she looked to both Zatanna and Inza.

The three women stepped away from the alter and Inza quickly shed the robe and tossed it into a barrel. She pointed and said a few words and the robe quickly caught fire. Zatanna followed suit and so did Diana. They watched as Inza picked up a sponge that Zatanna had brought and began to clean the markings off of herself.

"They feel foul." Inza said simply.

"They should. We brought a monster back to life." Zatanna said as she cleaned herself and handed a sponge to Diana.

"The marks of Persephone will only keep him away from Superman and his family. The rest of the league has to worry." Diana said.

"It's not the league I worry about. It's L.. Superwoman I'm worried about. He was fixated on Superman before, so it is likely he will transfer that to Superwoman." Zatanna said.

It wasn't long until the three women was gone. Lex tested his arms and rose from the spot he had been at. He was alive again and just because he couldn't touch Superman didn't mean that he could set motions into events to take the man of steel's life. He grinned as he walked out of the room and saw the old subway station. The first thing he needed to do was gain control of Lex Corp and take care of his wayward children. Alexandra would be the most fun. She was losing her stomach for personal touches he had often overseen himself.

(Watchtower – Medical ward – Sealed room)

Alexandra Luthor woke with a start as she looked around the room. She didn't feel her father's presence any longer, but that wasn't the only thing. She no longer cared about the league either. It was funny, but facing her father again had freed her from his influence. She didn't feel hate toward anyone he had hated, but it didn't stop the fact that she had wronged a lot of people here. She slowly sat up and looked to see a hero walking in.

"We've got a few questions to ask when you feel up to it." He said.

"What's your name?" She asked.

"I'm a member of the Lantern corps and that's all you need to know the man said as he narrowed his gaze at her.

"I understand. I really do. I've done things… I done a lot of things that I'm not proud of. Whatever you need help with I'll do it. It's the least I can do after all." She said as she looked at him with regret and sorrow in her eyes.

(Metropolis – three weeks later – Day before Thanksgiving)

Lexington Luthor II looked at his older half-brother, or at least he was according to the DNA test. The older brother had already took a huge hold in the company and today he was looking at the final swing of the sword. This man had claimed the last piece to control the entire company and he was being moved to holdings. It was a nice way of saying you're fucked buddy and his half-brother knew it.

"Well Lexington, it's nice to finally meet you. Tell me how has running the ship been?" Lex asked.

"Fine… Brother." Lexington said as he walked toward his half-brother and suddenly he began to feel weak.

"Listen to me boy. I can and I will take care of you eventually, but if you so much as start trouble with me now I will take you out right now." Lex whispered as his eyes narrowed.

Lexington nodded and walked drunkenly toward the elevator. Lex smiled as he watched Lexington leave and turned toward his old chair. The world was back to where it should be.

(Kent Farm – Thanksgiving)

Kal smiled as Wally, Linda, Johnny, and Amber arrived. They walked in and Kal stopped with Amber outside. She waited for her dad to go on in and then she leaned into Kal kissing him deeply.

"I hate living so far from you." She said as she felt his arms around her.

"It makes us seeing each other better." Kal said.

"Yeah, but I want to be in college like tomorrow so we could see each other every day." She replied as she leaned her head onto his shoulder.

They walked in to see J'onn and Lara already helping carry the food to the large portable building Bruce had paid to be put up outside of the farm. Inside Bruce, Diana, Thomas, Kiva along with both Thana and Bruce, Hippolyta, Athena, John, Shayera, and Rex all helped to set up the tables and before long the entire dinner was ready.

Amber noticed how disappointed Mary wasn't there until they turned and saw Dick and Galatea walk in with Mary and Hermes. While Mary looked fine Hermes looked like he was just starting to feel better.

"Sorry we're late, I had to wait for my publisher to get back to me. The Nightshadow series is a go." Dick said as he smiled.

"Ollie and Dinah called and said that they would be on their way." Lois said as she sat a turkey and walked back to help Martha carry her stuffing out.

Amber turned back to Kal and the both of them moved toward Thomas and Kiva. The young married couple was each holding one of their children and Amber looked at Kiva.

"May I?" She asked.

Kiva smiled and gently handed Amber Thana yawned and looked into the eyes of Amber for a moment. She didn't act scared, but instead she seemed to be fascinated by Amber. Over the next few hours friends talked about their lives, young love blossomed, and everything seemed right with the world.


	18. Frailty

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 18 'Frailty'**_

(Wayne Foundation Memorial Hospital – Second Week into December)

Alexandra Luthor looked at the room she had been given since being transferred to the Wayne Hospital from the Watchtower. She could honestly say that she felt different, but that wasn't all that she felt. She felt wounded and violated. Lex had used her. He was her father even if she was a clone, but he had programmed her and used her for his own means. She couldn't go into detail about everything, but a special councilor sent by the league had sat down with her and let her tell him everything. She explained how worthless she felt, and how angry she was toward Lex. She told him that it felt as if everything she had ever been was nothing but a lie. That's when the councilor dropped the bomb shell that even though Lex had never physically touched her what he did violated her in one of the worse ways.

_I guess like father like son. Lexington doesn't want anything to do with me. I shouldn't be surprised after all I'm a liability at the best._ She thought as she looked at the bare room around her.

The sound of her door opening caught her attention and she watched as the green lantern she had met on the Watchtower walked in. She studied him for a few moments as he put up a tree and plugged it in. Within seconds the tree lit up instantly bringing a sense of Christmas cheer with it. He turned around and walked over toward her.

"You haven't had many visitors have you?" he asked.

"I didn't think that my brother would visit me. To be honest I'm actually glad he hasn't." She said as she looked at the Green Lantern and smiled softly for a moment before turning to look at the tree.

"I know that I'm pretty much stuck here. If I leave my brother will have me found and killed. My… former lover had plans to kill me… I'm not a real popular person outside." She said with a little chuckle.

He walked over to her and touched her hand. She looked up at him her eyes showing how lost she felt. He took a seat beside her and looked at the tree as well.

"It could be worse." He said.

"Not sure it could be." She said with a sigh.

"You could be called off planet for Christmas. Stuck monitoring a section of space that is dead, but needs to be looked after since it was a smuggling route about sixty years ago." He said as he looked at the tree.

"Guess that it could be worse at that." She said before she looked at his face.

"I'm sorry for everything I put the league through." She said as she saw him smirk for a second.

"I'm not kidding. I really am sorry for it. I had no intention of putting the league through all of that. Once Zatanna freed me from my father's influence… it dawned on me how horrible I've been. I should be upset about being in here, but I'm not. Instead I'm grateful that I'm getting help, and I think that I've actually finally made a friend." She said as her hand touched his.

"Kyle. My name's Kyle." He said as he looked at her.

"Thanks Kyle." She said as the smile stayed on her lips.

For a moment nothing happened, but then Alexandra leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. She sat back up and looked toward the tree with what seemed like a true interest in it.

(Wayne Manor – Library)

Kiva sat in one of the couches holding Thana rocking the little girl as Thomas held his son Bruce. Thomas looked over to Kiva as she sung a soft song he had never heard before. He didn't even know the language she was singing in, but the song sounded sweet, soft, and lulling to the ears. He watched as she kissed their daughter's head and gently laid her down onto a baby blanket she had brought in with her.

Thomas looked at little Bruce who appeared to be more interested in looking at him and grasping his finger than going to sleep. Twice he tried to pull Thomas' finger into his mouth and Thomas figured that his son was getting hungry.

"I think that he's ready to eat." Thomas said.

Kiva looked at Thomas and walked toward them. She grinned at her son and lifted him up to her. Within seconds she opened the shirt she was wearing and held little Bruce to her nipple. She watched as her son began to suckle and softly spoke to him.

"I think that you just wanted me to feed him so you could get a look at me while I did it." She said gently.

"Maybe, but that's not the only reason." Thomas said as he smiled and walked over to her.

"I wish that he would have gotten wings too." Kiva said as she held their son.

"I'm sure that we can make him a pair like your brother's." Thomas suggested.

"That would be nice, but it's not the same." She said as she smiled softly to him.

"I bet that your mom felt the same huh?" He asked.

"Of course she did, but I'm sure that still loved Rex with all of her heart, because that's how much I love Bruce and Thana." Kiva said.

"Mom said that Grandma is wanting to see her grandchildren. She's actually leaving Themyscira to see the both of them." Thomas said as he watched his son hungrily suckle.

"When is she going to be here?" Kiva asked.

"I think mom said something about tomorrow." He answered as he kissed her gently.

(Kent's farm – Barn)

Amber stepped softly through the snow on the ground until she entered the barn. She couldn't help it and knew that she might get into trouble, but she had to see Kal. She looked around the barn and heard someone moving above them. She climbed the ladder to see Kal moving hay bales into the loft. He was using the pulley system and had long since removed his shirt since it kept getting caught by the bailing wire. Amber gasped as she looked at the fit muscles on his back.

"Amber?" He asked as he turned around after setting down one of the bales.

"I'm sorry Kal… I… I've missed you so much." She said as she walked over to him.

He looked at the shoulder length red hair she had pulled back into a short pony tail and smiled at her. Before she could say another word he moved forward and caught her into a kiss. She returned it with everything she had moaning softly as their tongues wrestled. She moved her hands down his stomach feeling every single one of his abs and moaning slightly more as he let his hands drift down her back until finally he gently felt the sculpt of her butt through her clothes.

They broke the kiss for a moment and Kal watched as she stepped back and found the clasp and zipper for her uniform. His eyes widened as she undid the clasp and pulled the zipper down.

"I know two things Kal Kent. The first is that I love you and I will always love you, and the second is that we belong together." She said as she lowered her top and pushed the uniform on off.

She stood hoping that he would like what he saw. She wanted him to tell her that she was beautiful, no she didn't just want him to she needed him to. She needed to him to tell her, to show her that he needed her as much she needed him. She could see his eyes drinking in the way she looked before he closed the loft of the barn and walked toward her. The soft glow of the coleman lantern sitting up in the barn made the both of them appear otherworldly, but at the same almost angelic.

A soft moan escaped her lips as he touched her. She wasn't sure about anything except that she wanted this. She wanted to be with him forever and somehow this seemed right. He kissed her again and pulled back slightly enough to whisper, "You're so beautiful"

Their lips met again and she found the button to his blue jeans. She worked them loose and began moving them down her hands working with a memory not of her own, but one passed down to all women. A memory of desire and need filled her as felt him lift her and lay her on sleeping bag Kal left out in the barn for their visits in the summer.

Amber looked into Kal's eyes and could see what she felt reflected. Like herself he is uncertain and this is a first time experience for the both of them. Her body seemed to follow an ancient memory as does his and suddenly her eyes squeezed shut from a stab of pain. She felt herself hugged against his chest.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly and gently.

"Yes… I just didn't know that it hurts like that the first time." She whimpered softly. He starts to pull back and out, but she stopped him.

"I want this Kal." She said.

Gently he starts again and soon the pain leaves her. She moans feeling a pleasure she never could have thought existed. It started gentle, but he began to speed and she matched him as best she could. Her vision began to fill with stars as she leaned back her head and cried out. He grunted softly and within ten minutes they had become one on a new level.

"Wow…" he said.

"Oh my God…" Amber whispered.

The sound of the barn door opening could be heard and footsteps on the ladder caught their attention. The both of them tried to get up and get dressed, but neither of them moved fast enough to keep from being caught. Amber froze as she looked at her father standing next to Kal's father.

"Get dressed and get in the house." Clark said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Both Amber and Kal quickly dressed and followed their father's into the farm house. Wally still seemed in a state of shock, but before Clark could say a word Lois took a look at the situation and blew a strand of hair out of her eyes.

"Clark, why don't you and Wally go into the kitchen and get a cup of coffee, or in Wally's case something decaf. I'll talk to the both of them while Wally finds himself." Lois said as she looked at her son and at Amber.

She didn't want to tell Clark, but she could see the signs. Kal was completely love struck with Amber, and she could tell the same could be said about Wally's daughter. Clark nodded before he looked at Kal with almost a look of disappointment. Lois walked over to the old couch that had been in the house for all of Clark's life and sat down carefully.

"Come on I'm not going to bite." Lois said as she watched the two of them walk over.

"I could start with a 'what do you think you are doing', but we all three know exactly what you were doing. I can't say that I'm happy about this. Kal… You've got to make sure that you are completely in control of your powers. I'm not going to tell you not to see each other, but for God's sake be careful. I know it would kill you if anything happened to Amber." She said to her son as she touched his cheek.

She looked to the young girl and could see the mix of emotions in her face and her eyes.

"Amber, I'm not going to tell you that I'm not disappointed. I do hope that you used protection, and I'm sure that your father does as well," Lois could see the way Amber looked at the ground and gently touched the girl's shoulder, "I know that your father is going to be disappointed that you didn't think about that sweetie. I'm sure that he would have wanted you to learn from Thomas and Kiva. Their children are beautiful, but it's not easy on them having their children so young." Lois said as she smiled gently and then got up. The terry cloth robe she was wearing hung down to her ankles and she hugged the both of them.

"Whatever happens know that I love the both of you, but we better go and sit down with your father's before anything gets said." Lois said as they walked into the kitchen to see Wally sipping coffee and raiding the cookie jar.


	19. Cruel Intentions

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 19 'Cruel Intentions'**_

(Lex's Office – Right Luthor Tower – Metropolis)

Baxter Stockman nervously walked into the room he had been called into. Without Lexington here to make sure he wouldn't see jail time he had been watching his p's and q's very closely. To be honest this 'brother' scared the hell out of him more than Lexington had. There was something just evil about the man and Baxter couldn't explain it. The best he could come up with was the old line from the 'Lost in Space' movie, "Monsters know Monsters."

"Baxter Stockman come in. From what my brother's notes say you are an accomplished bioengineer. In fact you found a way of making Project Dr. Moreau work without complete cellular failure. It's that reason only that you are not being killed in prison in one of more pornographic ways I could dare to express." Lex said as he stood and walked toward the scientist.

"Yes sir, I made the project work, but the candidates were taken from us sir. The Justice League returned them home." Baxter said as he shivered slightly.

"A minor setback. Dr. this time next week I will have the original eight that you did the experiments to returned. I want you to work on a growth formula which will have them reach maturity in a matter of days. Naturally I want this growth to stop once they have matured enough to do my bidding and to breed. Also I want you to look into my father's archives and find the information you can on Kryptonian D.N.A. See how compatible it is with human D.N.A. and if it can be added to a living human. Get started and don't fail me Stockman. If you do I can promise that the results will not be pleasant." Lex said before he turned and let Stockman scurry out of the office.

An older, but still attractive blond woman walked into the room not long after Stockman left. She smiled as she removed her jacket and placed it on the wall behind her and turned to look at Lex.

"Hello Lex." She said as she took a seat.

"Mercy, I'm actually quite pleased to see you." Lex said as he turned around and looked at the woman sitting there.

"The new body suits you. It's a shame that your super brats killed you before you could transfer your mind into it." Mercy said as she crossed her legs and looked at him.

"It was nothing that I couldn't undo. Besides their actions has given me even more access to power than I thought possible. I know what waits in the afterlife, and more to the point I have access and control to quite a bit of it. But my other 'eyes and ears' tell me that your wanting to see me is more than just being glad to see me." Lex said as he took a seat.

"I had to hide him Lex. Your son, your real son Alexander has been hidden from his 'brother and sister' since I knew that they would kill him." Mercy said as she looked at the man before her.

.

Mercy watched Lex's expression after telling him about Alexander. For a moment he did nothing, but to her surprise he smiled for a moment.

"Tell me about him." Lex said to her.

(Gotham Narrows - Kelly's Aikido dojo)

Stacy Kinsger practiced the throws and hits Mr. Kelly demonstrated. She had asked her mother to let her learn after getting to come home. It was strange though. She was so much faster than the other kids in the class. She was able to balance easier, jump higher, and even take a direct hit easier. Mr. Kelly had finally put her in the more advanced class since she seemed to be picking up the lessons so easily.

"Stacy if you don't mind to wait for a minute after we let out." Mr. Kelly said as he turned to the students and bowed.

"Alright, I want you all to practice your throws and be ready for review on Thursday." He said as the class left and Stacy stayed behind.

"Stacy, you've been making tremendous progress and to be honest you are one of the more gifted students here. If we work every single day I think that you could enter the state championships. If you're interested and if your mom is alright with it I won't charge any more than I already am." He said.

"I could win?" She asked.

"Sure I don't see a reason why you couldn't… Although you might have to stop wearing the Wonder Woman costume." He said as he looked at her dressed in the red, white, and blue training Gi that matched the Wonder Woman costume she wore under it.

"I'm gonna wear it." She said as she tapped her foot.

"Alright… Anyway take this letter to your mom and have her to sign it. See you later kiddo." Mr. Kelly said as he watched Stacy leaving.

Stacy walked down the street toward her and her mom's apartment clutching the letter and holding it tightly. Her young mind replayed the talk with Mr. Kelly over again and she couldn't believe that she had a shot at winning. Smiling she looked up to see a man standing outside of a car with her mom sitting inside. It looked like her mom was sleeping and the man looked at her.

"Stacy?" The man asked.

"I'm not suppose to talk to strangers." Stacy said as she stood back.

"Sorry kid, look my name is Joey. I'm a friend of your mom's, and well your mom got a new job and a new place. The moving truck has already came by. We've been waiting for you to get home so we could head out. See your both moving to Metropolis." Joey said.

"But… But Mr. Kelly said that I could win the championship if I practiced with him every day." Stacy replied as she stood away from him.

"I'm sure that your mom would get you a ride down here." Joey said impaciently.

"No… Mom said we don't waste money like that." Stacy said as she stepped further back.

"Ah the hell with this." Joey said as he pulled a gun and fired.

The tranquilizer dart hit Stacy as she started to run. Joey watched for a few moments before the little girl stumbled and fell. He turned toward the car and looked at the knocked out woman sitting in the front seat.

"Your kid is too damn smart." He stated as he walked toward the little girl and picked her up.

(Watchtower – Reserve League meeting)

Rex watched as his sister and brother – in – law walked into the council room. Soon both of Thomas' sisters walked in and it wasn't long before Kal, Hermes, Olivia, Mary, Victoria, Amber and Johnny also came in and sat down. Watching the others take a seat Rex walked over to the projector and began passing out folders.

"Alright, instead of doing old business I've been asked by Black Canary to present something to us. Most of you know that some of the league is nearing the age where they have to think about retiring. There are those who will be able to remain with us, but most of us are going to have to move into full time memberships." Rex said as he looked at the other reserve leaguers.

"When do we start transferring into full time?" Kiva asked as she looked at her brother.

"The sooner the better actually." Rex answered truthfully.

(Luthor corp – Genetic enhancements lab – Christmas Eve)

Baxter looked at the subjects Luthor had returned to him. Out of the children he experimented on only one seemed to reacting to the growth formula. The others either didn't grow, or they grew too old too fast. The video phone began to ring and Baxter picked it up to see Luthor.

"What are my numbers?" Luthor asked.

"One… There is only one that seems to be affected. The rest are either too affected, or not affected at all." Baxter said.

"For now it will work. Place her into the program. This time on New Year she will be a member of Dark Justice. Tell me which one was it?" Luthor asked.

"The one that dressed like Wonder Woman is the only one who has completely accepted the formula. Her body has aged about ten years beyond her current age." Baxter answered.

"Very good. I'll modify her training personally. Stockman, I'm going to send some men over. I want the enhancements you gave the children to be given to them. Don't fail me. Before I get off what was the results on the Kryptonian DNA?" Luthor asked.

"We can mix human and Kryptonian DNA with only a minor loss of power. They will have all of the same abilities, but slightly limited." Baxter answered.

"Good. This will work well in my advantage." Luthor said.

(Christmas Eve – Kent Farm)

Amber looked at Kal as they sat inside of the living room with Lois and Clark. The two couples laughed and joked slightly as Martha Kent walked into the room smiling.

"Who would like a mug of hot chocolate?" Martha asked.

"I think we all would mom. I'll help you." Lois said as she got up.

Amber smiled and kissed Kal's cheek as she got up. Kal looked at his father who cocked an eyebrow.

"So what does Wally think about Amber spending Christmas eve here?" Clark asked.

"Actually he said that if you didn't mind they would be coming over as well. I think that Thomas and Kiva has invited everyone over to the manor for Christmas itself if we want to go." Kal said.

The thought of Bruce holding Christmas actually brought a smile to Bruce's lips.

"I think that we might do that." Clark said.

(Inside of Stacy's dream world training)

Stacy looked at the city below her. Man's world was a strange place, but she had been sent to inspire hope and order. Luthor seemed to be the only one that understood. The other heroes here didn't seem to see it. She felt sorry for them, but she had to bring order to the chaos. It was the only way to save the world from itself.

"Wonder Girl what are you doing up here?" A voice asked her.

"Watching the city and the snow." She said as she leaned against the man standing behind her.

"You know your Amazon sisters would poke fun at you for leaning on a man." The man stated.

"They are not all here, besides the Princess leans on her bat." She says soothingly.

"Will she see things the way we do?" The man asks.

"I don't know. She preaches peace and love, but she believes in personal choice and freedom. Those things will cause chaos." Stacy said as she sighed.

"My father only wants what is best for the world." The man said.

"I know Alexander… That's why Dark Justice is doing everything we can to bring the order to the world." She said as turned toward him.

"So if I kiss you are you going to slap me again?" Alexander Luthor asked.

"No… This time I'll kiss back… Owlman" She said softly as the two of them kissed softly.

They broke for a moment. And Alexander looked toward the sky.

"Are you worried about Kevin?" She asked.

"Maximum is a worthy opponent, at least in the strength. As for Brains I far out class your psycho ex-boyfriend." Alexander said.


	20. Dark Justice

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 20 'Dark Justice'**_

(Kent Farm – Christmas Eve – Late evening)

Johnny looked at Amber and Kal as the young couple sat and talked about everything and nothing all at the same time. He could tell what happened between them. It wasn't from hearing about it because his sister didn't say a word, and Kal… Kal was too much like his father. He wouldn't brag about what happened between him and Amber for anything. It made him happy to see that his sister found someone who loved her as much as she loved him, but at the same time he felt kind of jealous. He stopped himself and thought for a moment. That must have been how Amber felt around him and Mary. Thinking about Mary brought another smile to his face, although he then thought about her mom. Galatea was far less forgiving than Clark. If she knew that Mary had given her virginity to him in her room a couple of weeks ago… He somehow doubted that she would be as understanding as Clark was.

"So what do you think Johnny?" Kal asked as he looked at Amber's twin brother.

"Think 'bout what?" Johnny asked completely lost on the fact that he had been included in on the conversation.

Amber shook her head and rolled her eyes.

"Kal and I was talking about next year. Since he's been homeschooled he's graduating and I could test out of highschool if I wanted to. So what do you think about being out this way next year? I mean I know that you're in the same boat I'm in, and if dad would be alright with it we could all look at college around here." Amber said.

"Actually… Mary and I was going to attend Central City University. I was kind of going to go the normal pace through school so that I could enter the same time with her." Johnny said.

"Oh… Well that'll be alright. We can still see each other and visit." Amber said before she laid her head on Kal's shoulder.

Johnny smiled and nodded. He got up and started to stretch.

(Luthor corp – Genetic Enhancement Lab – Christmas day – Stacy's training)

She stood over Superwoman. The former guardian of Metropolis didn't understand. She couldn't see how much the people were suffering. Murder, rape, spousal abuse all of it sprouted from the chaos everyone faced. It didn't make matters any better that she had to beat the super powered woman on Christmas. She took the silver lasso she wore on her side and tied Superwoman's wrists with it.

"Don't you understand that Luthor only wants what's good for you. He has no intention of killing any of you, but he wants the world to be at peace. It's better than letting the world fall into more chaos." Stacy said as she secured the lasso and knelt down next to Superwoman.

She heard someone land behind her and felt a set of hands touch her shoulders.

"Back off Maximum." She tried not growl the response to the touch of her exboyfriend.

"I don't like you hanging out with Owlman." The voice of Dark Justice's answer to Superman said through clenched teeth.

"You don't have to like it. You just have to leave me alone." Stacy said as she stood and looked at him.

"He's a dick and he's nothing but a plain human. What's the attraction?" Maximum asked as he looked at her.

"He treats me like an equal, he isn't convinced that I'm property, and he respects my heritage, and that's just the beginning." She said as she poked his chest.

"Does he make you squirm?" Maximum asked as his eyes narrowed.

"In ways you can't even begin to understand. Now back off." She said as she picked up Superwoman and leaped into the air.

(Inside of the lab)

Baxter looked at the others laying out here. He did what Luthor asked and enhanced them, but it wasn't enough. Luthor wanted copies of the original founding members abilities. Coping the abilities for Hawk Girl had been easy enough. He graphed some Eagle DNA into the young 'volunteer' and then harden her bones and increased her strength and abilities. But the Green Lantern had been something else entirely. Luthor had created a ring to feed off of internal energy. Once he learned how it worked he began working some of the characteristics of the electric eel into the other volunteer.

Over the course of next few hours Baxter had managed to integrate everything he could into the founding members with the exception of the Martian. Almost groaning for having to call Baxter picked up the phone and dialed the number.

"This had better be important." Lex said sounding out of breath.

"Mr. Luthor… I'm having trouble duplicating the Martian's powers. I've looked and there is just nothing that I can see that has his exact abilities. I've even went as far to look into the insect and microscopic worlds, but still I can't find anything." Baxter said as he waited to be threatened.

"Of course you couldn't you idiot. He's a completely alien lifeform. Even Kryptonian's share some of our basic genetic coding, but he's going to be completely different. Which is why I arranged a little something for you." Lex said as the sound of the loading doors opened in the genetic lab.

"I did a little research and found out that the conspiracy theorists weren't as insane as we would like to believe. There was a crash at Roswell New Mexico. The truck drivers should be unloading three preserved Martian bodies. See what you can do about coping their DNA into our volunteer. I expect to see results soon Stockman." Lex said before he hung up the phone.

Baxter walked down to the loading docks and saw three men unloading three cryounits.

"Boss said to leave these here and you could handle it from here. Good luck Mr." One of them said as they quickly got back into the trucks and took off.

(Metropolis – LexCorp – Lex's office)

Lex turned toward Mercy who was sleeping soundly beside him. He didn't like to admit that he missed her. To be honest he didn't want to admit that he even felt anything for her, but it would be a lie to say otherwise. He would never admit to loving her, but for now he would admit that he needed her.

"Mercy." He said as he sat up.

"Mmmm?" She sleepily asked as she raised her head from the soft pillow.

"How is Alexander liking his personal training?" Lex asked.

"He seems to be taking to it with ease, but then he is our son." She said as she looked at him.

She raised up letting the silk sheets fall from her body and looked at Lex hungrily.

(Wayne Manor – Christmas)

Diana smiled as she greeted everyone. To their surprise she was wearing a Santa cap and long flowing red evening gown. As everyone entered into the Manor each of them began receiving gifts both she and Bruce had picked out. The groups began to split up slightly as the younger generation began talking about things going on in their lives.

"Wait so you're going to graduate early?" Kiva asked as she held Thana and Thomas held little Bruce.

"Well that's the plan." Amber admitted as she looked at her friend.

"It's a good goal. So what college was you thinking about?" Thomas asked.

"Metropolis." Amber answered honestly.

"Going to get started living together early huh?" Kiva asked jokingly.

"Well it's more than that." Kal said as he smiled.

"I just know… I know that Kal and I are going to be together forever. I don't want anyone else." Amber said as she hugged his arm.

Thomas looked at them both and a knowing smirk crossed his lips.

"Way to go farmboy." Thomas said in a whisper that only a handful of people could hear.

Kal looked at him and smiled slightly.

(Wayne Manor – Library)

Olivia felt Hermes' arms around her. She shivered a little as she leaned into him. He gently rocked her as she began to cry.

"It's my fault… Hermes it's my fault…" She said as she sobbed.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"Hermes…. I love you, but…" She said as she stood and started to walk out.

"Olivia what are you doing?" He asked

"It's just not going to work between us. Every time that I'm with you I see that night… I haven't told my parents but I'm still having nightmares." Olivia said as she stopped and then she opened the door and walked out of the room.

(Entertainment room)

Rex looked around at everyone joking and having a good time. He started to walk outside when he saw Victoria. Smiling he walked toward the daughter of the Huntress and Question.

"Hey" He said toward her.

She stopped and looked at him as a smile crossed her lips.

"Hey yourself. So what are you up to?" She asked as she stepped outside with him.

"Not a whole lot. So where's what's his name?" Rex asked.

"Tony and I had a falling out. He thought that it was alright to cheat on me with my roommate and I thought it would be alright if I slashed the tires on his car." She said as she smiled.

"I didn't really think that he deserved to go out with you anyway." Rex said as they walked into the knee deep snow.

"My dad said the same thing. Of course it was for a completely different reason." She said as she scooped up some snow and began curving it into a ball.

Rex began to say something when he felt a snowball hit the back of his head and explode into powder. He turned and got hit in the face with another one. Smiling he scooped up some snow and began to have a snowball fight with Victoria. He laughed and ran after her pelting her with snowball after snowball. Finally the two of them collapsed near the stables.

"That was fun… That's something none of my boyfriends ever really did with me was just have fun." Victoria said as she looked at him.

"Maybe you just need a friend then." Rex said as he looked at her.

She smiled and then flipped a handful of snow onto his face as her answer.

(Hall of Absolute Justice – under Metropolis – New Years)

Alexander looked at the people gathered around him. He wasn't sure why it felt right to be here or to be part of this, but for some reason he understood that he needed to be part of this group.

"Hey Owlman." Wonder Girl said as she winked at him and walked closer to him.

"Why did you call this meeting?" M'ire asked as she formed into her seat between Maximum and Overdrive.

"It's become apparent that we are leaving too much up to the Justice League. They themselves are in constant Chaos, and we can't allow them to be taking the world's safety in their hands any more than necessary." Alexander said as he looked them over.

"Alright so starting tomorrow we begin to work toward dismantling the Justice League for its own good." Wonder Girl said as she looked at him.

"What about the women?" Maximum asked.

"We're not savages. We are dismantling the league not conquiering it." Wonder Girl said as she looked at him.

"Speak for yourself. They won't give up without a fight. I say we get compensated at the very least." Maximum said as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"We do this without casualties and without an all out war if possible. That means no attempts at conquiering anything." Alexander said.

"What if I refuse?" Maximum asked as he looked at Alexander.

"I always come prepared for anything 'Maxie' don't push me." Alexander said as he looked at half kryptonian.

(Metropolis – New Krypton Park the day after New Years)

The happy sounds of children playing brought a smile to Lara's lips. She watched as the children explored the park and played with toys and learning devices based on Kryptonian technology. Suddenly booming sound caught her attention and she looked overhead to see a jet faltering. She flew hard and fast toward the jet only to see two beings rush past her. The first threw a silver lasso around the tail of the jet and pulled back as the other being rushed toward the front and pushed up. They slowed its fall and carefully let it down near the most open part of the park.

"Careful little ones stay back while we assist those inside of the jet." The woman dressed in a black and silver version of Wonder Woman's costume said.

Before she could get to the side door the man had already ripped it off and floated above the ground.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked.

A few moments after asking he floated to the ground and looked at Lara.

"A little too slow to be of any help weren't you Superwoman?" The man asked.

"Who… Who are you?" She asked.

"Someone who will be replacing you soon enough." Maximum said with a smirk before he shot off into the air.

"Forgive his domineer. He's not really a people person, but he is right… This world needs more than the Justice League has been able to supply." The girl said with a sad face before she too took off.


	21. A Beautiful Mark

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 21 'A Beautiful Mark'**_

(Jameston – Grayson House – Kitchen)

Galatea worked the dough in her hands as she went about the process of making Hermes' favorite dinner. Her son had been heartbroken over what happened between him and Olivia Queen. She understood how the girl had felt, but she also knew that in many ways Olivia had been Hermes anchor in reality. He had kept focus on her and that focus had helped him escape the effects of Scarecrows toxin, but now… Now she wondered if Hermes would be able to handle this rejection.

"Hi sweetheart." Dick said as he walked up behind her and hugged her.

"Hi babe, Dick… are you worried about Hermes too?" Galatea asked.

"Sure I'm worried, but I don't know what else to do for him other than go on with life. I want to tell him that life will go on, but at that age… It's not something you want to hear." Dick said as he walked to Galatea's side and began working with the pulled pork and bar-b-que sauce.

"I don't like feeling helpless like this…" Galatea said as she looked at him.

"Right now the best we can do for him is be here for him. We can't take his hurt from him Galatea. Bruce used to say something to me. He said, "We have to experience our pain to learn from it. Without the pain to guide us we will never grow." I don't agree with everything that Bruce ever said or did, but he did have a point." Dick said.

"I know… I just don't like not being able to ease his pain for him… It was so much easier when they where four and all I had to do was put a bandaid on their knees, kiss the scratch and hug them. I miss that." She said as she looked out the window.

(New York - Rat City 'Murrow Alleys')

Nightwing stood on the roof tops of the low income apartments as he looked into the alley. He kept a check on his power and so far had stopped three muggings, two attempted rapes, and six attempted murders. He didn't want to admit it, but the action was helping. It was helping him focus on the mission and not on Olivia. He looked into the alley and almost missed the sound of someone landing on the roof behind him.

He turned quickly and saw someone that looked so much like J'onn except that it was obviously a she. Her long red hair was pulled into a tight pony tail and her orange eyes seemed to have a sad forlorn look to them. She looked at him questioningly and then she appeared to listen to the night.

"How do you do it? How do you face this world knowing that everyone you save will only end up killing each other later on?" The girl asked.

"Because somewhere deep inside of each of them is something worth saving." He said as he looked at her.

"I think that I want to believe that, but these people… They need guidance. They need to have someone show them that life doesn't have to be chaotic and unbalanced. You could help with that." She said as she stepped forward toward him.

Hermes studied her as she walked closer to him. Unlike J'onn she had actually took the appearance of a human quite a bit better. She had eyebrows, her face looked especially feminine and to be honest while she was beautiful her face held most of her beauty.

"If everyone learned that they are not so different from each other, and they understood that taking a life, stealing, raping, or a hundred other things hurt not only the victim, but themselves there would be no need for us." M'ire said as she looked at him.

"There are those who try and reach the people and instill those ideas into them. Wonder Woman has tried for some time and even Batman in Gotham has shown the world that they don't have to live in fear." Hermes replied.

"And yet their messages are often ignored. Come with me. Help us take the message further and change the world." She said as she looked at him.

"I've got to take care of New York. The people here are my responciblity." He said as he looked at the alley again.

"Then perhaps you will allow me to help you?" She asked.

"They can't know that a meta is here." He said before she closed her eyes and suddenly a black mask covered her face, her skin became almost pale, and she wore a similar uniform as his.

"They will never know that a meta has helped them at all." She said with a small smirk and turned toward the alley way.

"What is your name?" Hermes asked.

"I am M'ire. Do not offended but I read your mind on reflex. I know who and what you are, but I will not reveal it to anyone." M'ire said before she dropped down into the alley.

Hermes watched as she crept up on a group of muggers and quickly dispatched them. She did it with grace, little more strength than a normal human, and with the very skills in fighting that his father had taught him. A smile crossed his lips as he watched her and for a moment he found himself a little attracted to her. It quickly faded as he thought of Olivia. He wanted to protect Olivia from the nightmares, but she said that they were worse when he was around her. His mind quickly pushed the thoughts of 'Songbird' away as he dropped down into the alley to help M'ire.

(East Luthor Tower – Lex's office – two weeks later)

Lex looked at the reports on his desk. Everything that Dark Justice was doing had come back and he was enjoying every minute of it. His son was working in Hobb's Bay doing more for the area than Superwoman had done. He knew that Superwoman was dealing with the entire world and not just metropolis, but it was causing the people to trust Dark Justice more.

"We have a problem." Mercy said as she walked in and dropped a file on his desk.

"What's the problem?" Lex asked as he looked at her.

"M'ire. The girl is diverting her attention toward New York. We have tried to use the scanner Stockman developed to show us what she sees and hears, but she's blocking it. The last we saw was her talking to and working with Nightwing." Mercy said as she looked at Lex.

"If we don't get anything from her send Maximum." Lex said.

"Lex… He's already unstable. We don't know what he'll do when he goes after her." Mercy said.

"He'll most likely kill the distraction, and if he does then so be it." Lex said before something lit up behind his eyes as he looked at the file on what M'ire had transferred before she began to block them.

"Send him, but send him plain clothes. Most likely he'll go rogue and if this plays like I think it will… We'll have a new Maximum." Lex said with a laugh.

(New York – Rat City – Three days later)

Kevin stood on the rooftop in the black assassin suit and smirked. Below him was the sound of terror. He listened to it with awe. He loved hearing the screams, he loved the sounds of the strong taking from the weak. He didn't know why he loved it, but by God he did. He saw Nightwing and M'ire several roofs away from him. He watched them and his eyes narrowed. Yeah he had went out with Stacy, but he had been fuckin' M'ire on the side, and now his bitch was hitting on this worthless human. With a growl of rage he jumped into the air and headed straight toward the masked hero standing next to what belonged to him.

M'ire smiled at Hermes. She knew who he was, but she didn't give it away. She hoped that her controlling her thoughts would conceal who he was from Owlman. She trusted her friends, but Owlman answered to his father, and something about Lex bothered her. She looked again at Hermes and felt an attraction toward him. Suddenly her eyes widened and she turned around at the same time as Hermes as Kevin flew toward them and slammed into Hermes lifting him into the air.

"That's my BITCH!" Kevin roared as he head butted Hermes in the air and dropped him. He expected to see the masked hero fall, but instead he floated in the air.

Before Kevin could understand what was going on Hermes was on him hitting and kicking him in the air. The two fought in the air above the city hammering away at each other. Kevin unleashed his heat vision on Hermes only to have Hermes do the same toward him.

M'ire looked up at what was going on and knew that there was a chance Kevin could kill Hermes because he had no problem with killing. In truth she knew that Kevin wanted to have an excuse to kill each time he went out. She looked toward Jameston and flew going straight toward Hermes' home. She flew as fast as she could and landed down near Hermes' house. She became nonmaterial and moved into the house and looked at Galatea who was digging out laundry out of her dryer.

"You need to come with me now." M'ire said as she materialized.


	22. Is it worth the cost?

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 22 'Is it worth the cost?'**_

(New York – Central Park – 10 minutes later)

Hermes' had long since lost most of his costume and the battle with this unknown meta was starting to get to close to innocent lives. The other meta and like himself most of his assassin clothes was gone. Hermes could see behind the mask and the man looked familiar. He knew that he had seen him somewhere before, but he didn't know where.

"You think that you might be some hot shit boy, but that is my bitch. There isn't anyone else going to touch what is mine." Kevin seethed as he looked at Hermes.

"She doesn't belong to anyone." Hermes said as he circled the other meta.

"Her ass belongs to the strongest being on Earth and that's me. She's mine from the moment she wakes up to the time she goes to sleep. Fuck, every woman is they just don't know it yet." Kevin said.

Hermes had seen this kind of behavior before. It wasn't just a controlling attitude, but it was a sort of madness. Whoever this was had long since went insane, and now they were looking for reasons to hurt, kill, maim, and rape. This son of a bitch had every intention of beating the shit out of him, and then he would most likely go on to punish M'ire for talking to him.

"Sorry Slick, but like I said 'She doesn't belong to anyone.'" Hermes said as he baited the meta and waited for him to attack unfocused. It didn't take long for him to lose what little control he had and come flying toward him.

Hermes watched the meta as he roared in anger. He had seen boundless rage before in that creature that came up in Vegas, but this was different. This was rage that was focused. The meta caught him around his waist and drove him into a bolder slamming his fist into Hermes' head over and over again.

"You!" Kevin shouted as he rammed his fist hard into Hermes' face, "Are!" he screamed as he slammed his knee down listening the satifisting sound of bones cracking, "DEAD!" He roared as he lifted his hands up to bring them down on the masked hero below him before he felt something catch him in the back and send him flying into a large tree causing it to fall.

"Get the hell away from my son." Galatea said as she stood over Hermes.

"You want some too?" Kevin asked as he stood.

He unleashed the full power of his heat vision on her only to have her do the same. He laughed at the attempt by the woman until he noticed that her power was forcing his back. He tried to reach for more inside of himself, but there wasn't any. Instead he jumped out of the way letting her energy slam the ground.

"That's impossible! I'm the strongest being on the planet!" Kevin roared as he flew toward her.

Galatea watched him and took Dick's training to heart. He was unbalanced, his attacks relied too much on his raw force, and he was psychotic. She watched him barreling toward her Galatea waited until he was almost on her before she jumped out of the way of his attack and then jumped onto his back and rode him to the ground. She pulled his arm sharply up behind his back. For a moment she almost expected to feel him submit, but instead he screamed in rage and lifted himself up effectively breaking his arm in the moment. She jumped back as he turned on her.

He didn't start telling her how he was going rip into her, or give her any warning. Instead he came at her and plowed her into the ground. She started to struggle and found a knee in her stomach. It surprised her how much it hurt. She tried to get away from him and felt his hand go to her shirt. She felt the material rip and the look in his eyes was hate pure and simple. He didn't desire her, but he wanted to ruin her. She could tell the way he focused on her that this was to hurt her on a level she had never experienced. Before he could start to enjoy his victory she brought her leg up hard finding his balls and crushing them.

Hermes jumped up and flew straight at the wounded meta. He grabbed him and pulled him back to see his mother rise holding her hand across her chest. He turned both of them away from her to give her a sense of decency.

"I'll kill you both! I'm going to fuckin' kill you!" Kevin shouted.

M'ire who had watched the exchange saw something different. The way she had been taught to think was that the league was wrong. That everything they did was wrong. Instead of seeing wrong she saw two members of the league not only stopping one of her team, but they weren't attempting to kill him. She walked toward Kevin and looked into his eyes.

"Hold him." She said as she placed her hands over his head.

"When I get loose bitch I'm going to find you and I am going to make you pay. You won't walk for days." Kevin said with venom in his voice.

M'ire's golden eyes glowed and slowly Kevin began to calm down. She released him and hugged her self. The sheer amount of rage that was still in him had left a mark on her. She didn't take it from him, but she sealed it along with his mind. It wouldn't take long for him to find his way back and when he did nothing would stop him from carrying out the thoughts she had seen.

"What did you do to him?" Galatea asked as she stepped forward.

"I sealed him away inside of himself. It won't hold forever. That much hate can't be contained forever. I'm sorry." She said as she started to leave.

"Who is he really? You want my trust M'ire then tell me the truth." Hermes said as he held on to Kevin.

"He is Maximum. He's Dark Justice's answer to Superman. We knew that he was unbalanced, but none of us knew how much he was." She said as she closed her eyes.

"Batman come in." Hermes said as he activated his comm.

(Arkham – Three hours later.)

Superman stood looking at the cell that in the lowest parts of Arkham. The only other criminal that was down this deep was Croc. He had come along when Bruce called him, John, Shayera, Wally, J'onn, and Diana to the Asylum. He noticed that the cell was designed for a Kryptonian and cocked an eyebrow.

"It was in case you ever went rogue." Bruce said as he finished locking down the cell.

"So one of Dark Justice?" Shayera asked as she looked at the cell.

"They're making a move to dismantle the League. Right now they are getting the public behind them. It won't be long until they have enough support to be on equal footing." Bruce said.

"Didn't Cadmus learn from the Ultramen?" Diana asked as she studied the sleeping form inside of the cell.

"That's the problem. This isn't Cadmus. One of their own tried to tell us everything, but before she could get too far into it something caused her to collapse." Bruce said as he turned to J'onn.

"She's a hybred of Martian and human DNA. Inside of her body is a collection of nanobots designed to cause her sever pain if she disobeys the instructions that had been implanted in her mind. She has been disobeying and living with the pain, but when she tried to tell us about Dark Justice she screamed and collapsed. I did get one mental image from her." J'onn said as he looked at Clark.

"Who is it?" Clark asked as he looked at his friend.

"Lex Luthor." J'onn said simply.

Clark's fists suddenly contracted has he closed his eyes. He had heard that Lex had died. He knew his son was head of Lex's company now, but if what J'onn said was true then Lex was still alive.

"How can it be Lex?" Clark demanded.

"He was attacking his daughter from the other side. He was going to move on to you, Lois, Kal… Clark he knows everything about you, but he is restricted. He can't straight out attack you or your family." Diana said as she looked at him.

"How is he back?" Clark demanded.

"We had… We had to bring him back." Diana answered as she closed her eyes.

"It was the only alternative, and it was my decision to keep you out of the loop." Bruce said as he locked eyes with Clark.

"Damn it! You don't understand! This is Lex 'Flippin' Luthor! He won't stop until he gets what he wants! Bruce you know exactly what he wants, it's what he has always wanted! Hell, if he knows who I am and about Lois then what am I suppose to do? How do I protect her when he sends his twisted version of the Justice League after her?" Clark said as he returned Bruce's Glare.

"We'll think of something. For the moment he can't do anything without raising suspicion. Even this attack was well thought out." Bruce answered clinically.

"The attack on our grandson was well thought out?" Diana asked her voice tight.

"He wanted to remove one of his team. He must have known how difficult it would be to control him if he went rogue. From the blood sample I checked I noticed that the nanobots he is using on M'ire are also present in this one, but they are being destroyed by his body chemistry. He couldn't chance him loosing it in public." Bruce answered.

"Why attack Nightwing?" John asked.

"What better replacement for one of his team then with one of ours?" Bruce said as he looked at them.

"What do you think he knows about him?" Diana asked.

"Depending on how well guarded M'ire protected her mind… He might know everything there is to know about Nightwing." Bruce said as he groaned.


	23. Seeing you from the inside out

_Jana Girl123__ - I like the prompt that you left… I would have to say that if Question and Huntress was dating on Earth 2 then I'm pretty sure that Bruce would be checking Vic out pretty well. I think that while he was certain that Helena could take care of herself; he would be like any father and want to make sure that she was safe, and that Vic wasn't doing anything to 'violate' her._

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 23 'Seeing you from the inside out'**_

(Watchtower – Reserve and Inner Council meeting)

The room was quiet, but then again suggesting to send one of their own into the enemy's strong hold could cause problems. Thomas looked at Hermes and shook his head. The idea that Hermes could go into Dark Justice and pose as the new Maximum was more than just stupid. It was insane.

"Wait… We're suggesting sending Nightwing into a situation where the best hope he can possibly have is having help having to fight through Dark Justice and then get to him? That's insane and you all know it." Thomas stated as he looked at the inner council.

"We may not get another chance like this." Bruce stated as he looked at his son.

"Not get another chance to send someone to their death? Great I hope that we don't get another chance." Thomas answered.

"I don't always agree with Juggernaught, but he has a point. This doesn't feel like a good idea." Rex said as he looked at his brother – in – law.

For several minutes the inner council attempted to explain to the reserve and new members of the League that doing this would be a good idea. Finally one of the reserve members stood. Everyone turned their attention to Hermes as he looked at them all. His face hid any emontion he had about the situation.

"Good idea or not this has to be done. The inner council has already talked to me about this. I told them that I would. I'm not going into this lightly, but the more information we have about Dark Justice the better." Hermes said as he looked at his peers.

"It's stupid." Came the voice of the girl he had loved, still loved, and most likely would always love.

"It has to be done Songbird." He said as he looked at her.

"You're going to be throwing your life away." Olivia said as she looked him in the eyes.

"It's my life." Hermes stated coldly.

For a moment no one said anything and then Diana felt Bruce nudge her.

"That's why I said that dating inside of the league is a bad idea." He said quietly.

Hermes held back his tongue. He knew that Bruce intended for him to hear the message as well. He had been warned by his grandfather and by his father that if you dated someone in the league and it didn't work out then you needed to remain professional. He took a breath and looked at Olivia who had concern all over her face.

"Regardless of it being a good or bad idea we need to know more about them. This opportunity will give the league a lot of information about Dark Justice that can help save lives. Since Luthor is behind the group we don't know what his plans are. We can only guess that it will be dangerous to anyone connected to the league." Hermes said as he looked at his former girlfriend.

She nodded and sat back down. Hermes looked over the group before him and realized that while they were against the idea each and every one of them would do everything in their power to help him if the situation went sour.

"How do we get you in there?" Rex asked.

"I have an invite already. We just have to help the person who invited me wake up." Hermes said.

(Watchtower – Medical unit – two hours later)

J'onn looked at M'ire as she lay on the bed breathing. It had took some time, but using what information Batman had over nanobots, and getting help from Steel the nanobots appeared to be shutting down and allowing themselves to be destroyed. He watched the girl as she stirred for a moment before her eyes opened to see the Martian before her.

"I'm in the Watchtower aren't I?" She asked as she looked at J'onn.

"Yes." He answered as he looked at her.

_You may talk to me telepathically if you wish. I know that our people spoke this way more often than not. _She said through the telepathic link she created with him.

_You are not completely Martian, but you are right. We did speak like this most of the time. Especially during the wars. _J'onn said as he watched her get up.

_How do you do it? How do you block the voices? I can, but it's hard. I hear them so much… It hurts… It hurts so bad to hear all of them at once. The only one that I don't hear it with is Hermes. When I stand near him I don't hear the voices. I only hear his. I hear his thoughts, his voice, but he is very controlled… It makes it easier to be with him._ M'ire said.

_It takes time and much practice to block the thoughts of those around you out. Being that you are half human it will take even more practice than normal. Those humans with the ability to hear thoughts often have to practice a lifetime. I've met only a few who have the ability, and of those a third might have the control needed to retain their sanity._ J'onn replied.

_How would Hermes be able to help then? Why do I not hear everyone's thoughts when I am near him? _She asked.

_His mind has been trained. Your mind senses how precisioned his mind is and mimics it. It is fairly common, or it was on our world. Of course when you met one like that it was said that you are bound. Your minds are one and you must follow this person all of your life. That is not so on this planet. Here we choose by what we feel. That is how we chose toward the end of our world as well. _ J'onn stated.

_On our world I would have been bound to him?_ M'ire asked as a slight smile crossed her lips.

J'onn suddenly got flashes of M'ire performing various acts of pleasure toward Hermes and shook his head.

"Contain your thoughts." J'onn said as he got up to leave.

"I'm sorry… He is attractive, and he is the first to treat me as a person and not property." M'ire said as she stood.

J'onn shook his head.

_To be young and foolish. _He said through their link before he left.

M'ire sat in the medical area for several more minutes. She thought not only about what J'onn had said, but also about Hermes. There was an attraction between them, or at least she was attracted to him. From what she had just been told she was half human. If that was so then dating him was not out of the question. She began to feel a little self doubt for a moment. Like J'onn her skin was green, her eyes a dull yellow, and she seemed other worldly. She wasn't sure if he would want to spend time with her. His memories was plagued with the vision of a lovely girl. M'ire stood and walked toward a mirror. She stood there not noticing that the door opened and focused on the mirror. Slowly her eyes became almond colored, her skin began changing until it was more coppery in tone. She left her hair the deep rich red it had been. She focused herself on this not noticing someone standing behind her. As she continued her transformation she smiled.

"Perhaps he would like this." She said as she looked at the woman in the mirror.

"Who would like it?" Hermes asked as he walked in.

The sound of his voice almost made her jump out of her skin. She turned toward him and smiled a little. He noticed the deep red of her lips and the way she created herself to look stunningly beautiful.

"No… No one." She said almost sheepishly.

"Uh huh. Are you feeling alright?" He asked.

"I feel better, why are you asking?" She asked as she remained in her transformed state.

"I'm going to infiltrate Dark Justice. What they did to you, sending Kevin after me, and wanting me to take his place. I think that Luthor is up to something." He said as he looked at her.

"And the best place to find out would be from the inside. I can keep the secret, but there is a doctor there… He has a machine that can see into my thoughts. If I am not careful he will see what is going on and report it." M'ire said as she looked at him.

"I'm sure that we can find a way of getting past that." Hermes answered.

(Watchtower – Training Room 17)

Kiva had watched Olivia walk into the training room alone. She knew that her friend was upset. She didn't understand everything that was going on between Olivia and Hermes, but she knew enough that it was obvious that there was still feelings present between the two. Knowing that going inside could be hazardous to her health Kiva stood uncertain. Finally she decided that if she was in the same situation she would hope one of her friends would do the same for her.

No sooner did the door open than Kiva watched Songbird unloaded a sonic scream on three drones all programmed to look like Scarecrow. She walked over to one that was laying on the ground and kicked it as hard as she could.

"You son of a bitch! You rotten evil son of a bitch you caused this!" She screamed as she kicked the drone again.

Kiva watched her friend tear into the now downed drone ripping it apart, viciously tearing into the inner components of it. She walked toward her friend and laid her hand on Olivia's shoulder.

"I don't want anyone in here with me." Olivia said as she stood and looked toward the wall.

"It's not healthy to keep your feelings inside. I know that we haven't had a whole lot to do with each other since the twins were born, but I'm still your friend Olivia." Kiva said.

"I made him leave. I told him that I couldn't be with him because every time we're together I see that night. I relive those nightmares. I love him, but I can't keep living like that. And now… Now he's trying to throw his life away." Olivia said as she looked at the ruined drone below her.

"I know that it can be hard…" Kiva started before the blond shook her head.

"No you don't. You've got a fairy tale life Kiva. You have the man you love, his children, and you get to feel him hold you every night. You can do that without seeing your worst fears. I can barely sit in the same room with Hermes without blocking everything else out of my mind." Olivia said as she turned to her friend.

"I almost lost Thomas, so don't say that I don't understand. I had to watch as the father of my children lay dying in a bed after being viciously beaten. I do know what it's like to be separated from the man you love and not be able to do a damned thing about it, but I'm not here for me Olivia. You need a friend right now, and as a friend why don't you come and spend the day with me." Kiva suggested.

Olivia nodded. Getting away from the watchtower and the league might help make things feel a little more normal. She followed Kiva to the teleporter. Kiva quickly set the location of the Batcave and the both of them teleported off of the watchtower.

(Dark Justice – Hall of Absolute Justice – Two days later)

Stacy looked at the new member of Dark Justice. She was actually glad that Kevin went rogue. She almost expected it to happen sooner or later. She didn't want any of her team mates to end up inside of a jail cell or inside of Arkham, but the truth was Kevin was unbalanced. He would eventually lose all the self control he had and when that happened it was very, very likely that he would have turned on them. Besides this new member wasn't hard on the eyes, although she would never betray Alexander.

_Hermes act normal, but observe everything. I shall be close by. _M'ire said through their link before she nodded and walked toward her dorm room.

"Welcome." Stacy said as she reached out to shake his hand.

"Thanks I guess." Hermes said as he observed the girl before him.

"I wanted to say that we're glad you decided to join us, but just to let you know there are a few of our members who might be watching you for a while. We want to be sure that we can trust you." She said honestly.

"I'll try to be as trust worthy as possible." He replied politely.

"Wonder Girl, Maximum the both of you need to come directly to the council room." Alexander Luthor's voice said over the intercom.

Hermes followed Wonder Girl until the both of them walked into a large room with a circular table. He watched as one of the members approached them and pointed to the screen.

"Luthor corp just reported a transport ship missing. The exact information about what it is carrying isn't certain only that it was registered as a military contract transport. We need to assume the worst and we need to locate where the ship disappeared to. The last transmission from it came around this area. I've done a search and it seems that there is an island here where the Justice League had helped save several villagers from a volcanic eruption some years ago. It is possible that whoever has captured the ship could be on the island or using it has a base of operations. Go in, find the ship, return it and the crew, and clean up the mess." Owlman said before he looked at Wonder Girl.

Hermes could see the tension between the two and left the room. He stopped once he was outside and listened in for a minute.

(Inside of the council room)

"There's not a whole lot of time before you leave." Owlman said as he pulled Stacy into a passionate kiss.

"I know… Hera, I wish there was…" Stacy said as she returned the kiss with all of the passion she could.

She stepped away from him and smiled brightly. She loved him so deeply. Her hands began to trace down his uniform.

"We don't have time… Keep an eye on him. If he faltures on cleaning up the mess let me know." Alexander said as he looked at her.

"We don't… We don't have to do what Kevin did right?" Stacy asked.

"No, no killing unless there is no choice. But let them know who is boss. If you have to put them into a coma do it. Also if the coast guard or military presence isn't going to be there then strand them on the island." Alexander said as he started to walk toward the door.

(Outside of the council chamber.)

Hermes looked at the wall in front of him. Grandpa Bruce would break bones if he had to, and he would get the point across that breaking the law was a bad idea, but he would never strand anyone on an island without any kind of rations or certainty that the coast guard or military would pick them up. It already seemed that Dark Justice was a far, far cry from the Justice League.


	24. A New Paradise

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 24 'A new Paradise.'**_

(Unknown Island – several days off of the coast of California – Pirates base of operations)

The large American turned pirate looked at his followers. In less than thirty minutes a woman who was similar to Wonder Woman and someone who was much like Superman had appeared and began disabling all of them. The weapons they had was of no use and now he was backed into a corner facing the woman as she walked toward him. He grumbled as he looked at his crew laying out on the island. They had defended their homes, the goods they had plundered, and the weapons they had stolen from Wayne tech and Luthor Corp for the last six years.

"You should have known that Dark Justice would find out about your little stunt." Stacy said as she neared him.

"Maybe, but you should know when someone has an Ace in the hole!" He shouted as he slammed his fist on a crate and it fell open to reveal a large metallic looking thing. Slowly the being moved out of the box and its eyes glowed red as it read the two life forms.

"Luthor antimeta drone on line." The drone said as it began to shutter and slowly a thick liquid metal solution began to cover its surface. When the drone was finished the liquid metal had formed skin and it looked like an attractive blond.

"Kill 'em!" The captain said before the drone punched her fist through his skull killing him.

"Unauthorized commander. Running protocols. Protocols dictate that all Metas are to be destroyed." The drone said as it leaped toward Stacy and caught her hair and spun with enough force to slam her into the wall.

Hermes looked at the drone as it turned to him. It's eyes focused and became red. Suddenly he watched as its fingernails began to lengthen into daggers and the liquid metal that had covered its body covered the nails hardening into a shiny, but he assumed completely deadly metal.

"All Kryptonians must die. Directive 001-231 indicates that all Kryptonians are directly linked to superman. All linked to Superman must be eliminated." The Drone said before she leap at him and nearly jabbed him.

The fighting between the two went on for several minutes and finally seeing no other recourse Hermes leapt into the air and watched as the drone followed him. He noticed that Luthor had designed this thing to mimic some if not all of Superman's powers. If that was the case then he could lead it away from the island and hopefully somewhere that it wouldn't be able to kill anyone else. He headed further off toward a small island he had seen before. The drone attempted to hit him several times, but each time he managed to dodge its attacks. Finally when he landed the drone attacked again and this time it was faster.

He fought against the drone as it tried to kill him. Each time it attacked and he managed to evade or block the attack it learned. He noticed how quickly it was adapting to his powers and after an hour of fighting he was on the receiving end of a major ass kicking.

_This is how it goes down… I get killed by a weapon created by Luthor to destroy Superman, and I don't even stop it. I don't get a chance to at least be friends with Olivia again… I don't get to keep my promise to M'ire and get her out of Dark Justice… Mom I'm sorry. _He thought before the sound of battle cry got his and the drones attention. He watched as Stacy or Wonder Girl landed and shoved a strange looking sword forward.

The drone caught the sword in its stomach and it began to slow down. Slowly the light inside of its eyes left and it fell in a heap.

"What was that?" Hermes asked.

"That was one of about thirty swords created by Wayne Tech for the military apparently. I saw the box it was in and not a one of them had broken when that thing stepped on the box. They didn't get a scratch or bend, so I figured that they must be able to go through that thing." Stacy said as she looked at the downed drone.

"Let's contact the military and let them clean up the island." Hermes said.

"Actually Owlman told me that he would have everything under control. You did good Maximum. Welcome to Dark Justice Full time." She said with a smile.

He watched as Stacy removed the sword and began to lift into the air.

"Are you coming?" She asked.

"In a minute. I would like to see if there is any more danger that this thing could cause." He said as he watched her shrug and then take off.

As she disappeared he quickly placed a tracking device on the drone and activated it. He spoke a few words toward the drone and then he lifted into the air.

(Island where The drone was stopped three hours later.)

The Batwing landed and both Diana and Bruce stepped out. He looked at the drone and pressed the tracking device. When he did a small hologram of Hermes appeared.

"Grandpa I figured that you would be here first. This thing was one of Luthor's projects, but its only one of seventeen. I'm not sure where the rest are, but I won't put it past Luthor or his children to resurrect them if needed. They can copy powers and fighting abilities after a few minutes of battle. It appears that they were designed specifically to take down Superman. I also want to thank you for notifying the national guard. Those people didn't deserve to be left on that island to starve to death. I'll try to contact you all later, but something is going down with Dark Justice. Owlman has been designing some kind of plan and from what I understand it involves taking down the league." The hologram said before it disappeared.

"Bruce…" Diana said as she looked at her husband.

"We need to get all of the information that Hermes can get us. I've already left him a coded message to hack into their computer systems and implement a copy of everything they have and it will send it through an unknown network directly to the cave." Bruce said as he picked up the drone and placed it in the Batwing.

(M'ire's room – two hours later.)

M'ire looked at Hermes as the two of them talked. She had transformed into her new form and smiled when Hermes complimented that the new form was pretty, but he thought that she was pretty the other way as well. She quickly looked around and motioned toward the closet. The both of them got up and headed toward the closet and let the door close on them.

"This is far enough away and shielded enough that they shouldn't be able to hear us if they are listening." She said as she looked at him.

"M'ire what's project paradise?" Hermes asked.

"The end of the league… Oh no… He can't be really going to use that…" She said as her eyes widened.

"Why can't he be going to use it?" Hermes asked.

"Project Paradise is designed for us to take down the league and kill them. It's meant only to use if the league has went rogue and there is no chance of saving them from their selves. If Owlman is going to use that then we have to warn the league. They'll start with the non powered members first, and they will take out the only member of the league who has saved them time and time again." She said as she looked at the floor.

(Batcave – Examination table with the drone on it.)

Bruce looked at the drone and noticed a few things about it. For one it was obviously designed when brainac had merged with him. The drone could easily hold the storage space to transfer brainac's memory into it, but he had decided not to. His guess was that the drone wasn't advanced enough for the alien machine. Bruce turned when a beeping sound came from the computer and looked to see the files Hermes had sent to him. He looked at Project Paradise and his blood began to run cold. He grabbed his communicator and pressed it.

"Diana call a meeting with the league now. Don't have them meet in the tower, have the founding members meet here in the cave. We don't have a minute to lose." Bruce said as he looked back at the file and saw the detailed files of each member of the league and how to kill them.


	25. Terminated

_**AN: Epilogue is coming. The next chapter will be finishing up the story. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. Thanks.**_

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 25 'Terminated.'**_

(Dark Justice – Headquarters)

Alexander Luthor looked at Project Paradise as he began programming the computers to imprint the need and desire to carry out the project into the minds of the other members of Dark Justice. For his father to be ready to destroy the league it mean that he was ready to take complete control. He looked at the first two names on his list and decided quickly on the teams. Stacy would be one, and he would assign M'ire as well. He would go as backup to ensure that M'ire followed through. If she didn't then he would terminate her.

He looked at the other orders and began assigning members of Dark Justice to take care of them. He finally looked at their newest Maximum and grinned. He lifted a single kryptonite bullet and loaded it into small derringer. The forty-five caliber derringer would be more than enough to kill the last member of the Justice League.

_Besides he's getting too friendly with M'ire and Stacy. I can't have that now. _ Alexander thought as he slipped the derringer into its hidden holster in his suit.

(Wayne Manor – Entertainment room)

The one thing that Bruce had learned over time was that in order to discover what needed to be discovered you simply had to study and wait. There was no doubt that Dark Justice was going to make a move on the League. He knew that they had the weaknesses on each one of them, but thanks to Hermes the league was ready, or at least as close to ready as they could be. He had informed his daughters to be ready and to remain in constant contact with each other and with him. Thomas and Kiva was in the manor and he was proud of the way his son was reacting. Instead of reacting to the threat instantly Thomas had prepared. Both he and Kiva had moved to a room with access to the cave if needed and could get there in seconds.

(Angellio's Pizza Palace – Gotham University Square)

Hippolyta looked at Jackie as he brought over a vegetarian pizza and set it down in front of her. She smiled as she took a slice and bit into it. She had to admit that Jackie was right about the alfredo sauce on the pizza. It did make all of the difference. She watched as he began to join in and after a few minutes she looked at the red mark on his cheek.

"What happened?" she asked.

"The last match of the finals. I won, but Sarah Kline decided to cheat a little. She switched swords and the one that she used was able to slice through the band holding on my mask. I actually ended up fighting for my life after that. I didn't realize how much she hated loosing the national title." Jackie laughed as he took another bite.

Hippolyta began to wonder if Sarah Kline would like being pulled out of her room in the middle of the night by Batgirl and hung naked upside down inside of her school. She quickly pushed the idea of revenge out of her head and instead tried enjoy a nice lunch with Jackie. At least she was enjoying a nice lunch until the sound of someone screaming from outside caught her attention. She turned to see a hooded figure raising a sword over a woman and starting to bring it down.

"CALL 911!" Jackie yelled as he raced over to one of the fixtures on the wall and pulled out the sword that was in it.

He quickly ran out with a rapier from the fixture and prayed that it was at least real metal so he could defend himself and the woman if needed. Hippolyta ran out behind him and watched as Jackie blocked the sword stroke from the unknown attacker.

"The police are on their way!" Jackie yelled as he stood with the sword ready to fight.

The woman didn't waste time talking and instead went in with a straight forward attack. Jackie quickly jumped to the side and his fencing training began to kick in. Within moments he was locked in sword play with the attacker and he realized two things. The attacker was just as skilled as he was if not more, and they was stronger. Everything he had learned from Mr. Andrews he brought out. He blocked, attempted to slash areas where tendons was close to the surface to cause the attack to drop the sword or at least back off, but each attack was blocked and quickly returned.

_Damn it… Stupid, stupid, stupid! Sure the girl's safe, but how the hell am I going to get out of this? I can't just run. If I drop the sword or my stance they will run me through. _He thought before he heard something behind him. He didn't have time to turn and instead relied on what Mr. Andrews called the second sight.

He could almost feel another weapon moving toward him and he jumped out of the way and watched as the sword of the first attacker was hit with a stun gun. The cloak on the first attack fell back as the woman jumped back and looked around at the area stunned and surprised.

"What… What am I doing here?" The Dark Justice version of Hawkgirl asked as she looked around uncertain.

Suddenly her eyes hardened and she turned toward Hippolyta. She let out a battle cry and ran toward the daughter of Bruce and Diana Wayne. Jackie seeing what was going on thrust himself between Hippolyta and the attacker. He tried to block her attack with his sword, but the piece from the decoration inside broke and he felt the other sword enter into his chest.

Hippolyta's eyes widened as she watched Jackie get run through. She screamed and in a blind fury she attacked the woman holding the sword. She grabbed the woman's wings and pulled hard ripping them off. The woman screamed as she fell to the ground and Hippolyta turned to look at the other being standing there. They tried to back off, but soon they was caught by the angered half Amazon. She ripped the cloak from them and looked at the Dark Justice version of Green Lantern.

He tried to use his ring, but before he had a chance to do anything Hippolyta grabbed his hand and broke every bone in it. He screamed and fell to the ground before she kicked him in the ribs and knocked him back.

She looked at Jackie and fell to her knees. She didn't care if her secret identity was out. It didn't matter if people realized that she was a hero. All she cared for was dying. Slowly he stretched his hand toward.

"Hey… I got to play a hero… I should have… I should have had the cloak of invincibility with me… Maybe then… I could… have… won…"He said before his eyes closed for the last time.

"Nonononononononononononono…" She said as she pulled him up into her lap.

(Metropolis – New Krypton Park)

Lara looked at the figure before her. He was a pale imitation of the Flash. He could move and quickly, but he didn't even nearly match the speed that Flash could. She was able to stop him before he could remove the Kryptonite ring he had in a lead box. She pressed the communicator and called in.

"Tell Batman he was right. I've stopped the one they sent for me. The others are more than likely already attacking." She said as she lifted him up and waited to be transported to the watchtower.

(Wayne Manor)

Bruce looked at his attackers. He looked at the man standing behind the two women. He could tell that M'ire was fighting whatever the man was using, but girl that was their version of Diana was almost completely blank.

"If you're an Amazon why are you letting yourself be controlled by a man?" Bruce asked as he backed up.

Something flashed in the woman's eyes. She shook her head and looked at Bruce and then at Owlman.

"What's… What's going on?" She asked.

"We have a job to do Wonder Girl. We need to destroy the threats now!" Owlman said.

"He's been playing you. Everything he has told you is a lie. Everything that you think that you know is a lie." Bruce said to her.

Before anything else could be said a golden Lasso wrapped around Stacy and she began to see the truth. Her eyes widened and she turned to Owlman. Her eyes once filled with admoration and love for him was filled with anger and confusion.

"You… You lied to me! You took me from my home! Everything… Everything was a lie! You and Kevin… I am going to rip your balls off and play hacky sack with them!" Stacy shouted as the lasso was removed from her.

"Now… Stacy… It wasn't all bad right? I mean you liked the stuff we did…" Alexander said as he backed up. He flipped his right wrist and two wires shot out and attached to her and six thousand volts sent her to the ground and incapacitated her.

"Well… You've officially ended me from tapping that." Alexander said as he looked at Bruce with hatred in his eyes

"Someone moved up behind Alexander and he felt two hands on his head. He tried to get out of the way but suddenly he fell to his knees.

After a few minutes M'ire stood up and looked at Bruce.

"He won't remember who you are or what his father made him do. He won't remember any of it only who he is and who his parents are. Maybe he will have a normal life." M'ire said as she held her head.

"Are you alright?" Diana asked as she moved near the girl.

"Everything he knows is in my head… I'm trying to filter it out, but it is hard… I need to see J'onn." She admitted before she turned to Stacy.

Wonder Girl slowly stood and held herself. She looked at the ground and then slowly she looked toward Diana.

"I am so sorry sister." Stacy said as she looked at Diana.

"It is alright." Diana said as she neared the girl.

"My mother… I don't know what happened to her, but I know that she's gone. She was gone when I looked in the car that day." Stacy said as she rubbed her arms.

"Sister perhaps you could join us." Diana said as she extended her hand.

"I would like that… But first… May I see our… or at least your homeland? I have memories that I will never understand, and a name I do not want to use anymore." She said.

"What would you like to be called?" Diana asked.

"I don't know… Perhaps Athena will give me a new one." She said as she smiled at Diana.

(Luthor Corp – Luthor's office)

The sound of glass shattering could be heard and Lex looked up to see Batman standing before him. The Dark Knight moved toward Luthor and before Lex could do anything Batman grabbed him by the throat and pushed him against the wall.

"Dark Justice is over Lex. We have enough evidence to prove that you were connected." Batman said as he dropped Lex.

"Try it. I'll beat it. I've always beaten it before, and I'll beat it now. I've got the best lawyers, the courts are in my pocket, and I've beaten death. There is nothing that you can do or say that will make any difference." Lex said.

"Your son doesn't have any of that Lex. He's guilty on several counts and he will serve a prison term for his part." Batman said as he watched the color drain from Lex's face.

"What do you want?" Lex growled the question.

"I want you to know that if I find you connected to anything else I will make sure that your son is picked up." Batman stated.

Lex closed his eyes and sat down. He opened them to see Batman gone.

"Mercy, is Alexander back?" Lex asked over the telephone.

"He just came in. He's a little confused, but he seems alright." She answered.

Lex looked at his desk and began to wonder when he actually started to care.

(Themyscira – two years later)

Queen Hippolyta looked at her adopted daughter. The girl had learned so much during her time here and the Goddess Athena gave the girl the name of Donna. She saw Donna leave the training ground with Artemis and the young girl walked toward Hippolyta.

"Thank you." Donna said as she smiled softly.

"You've made great strides my daughter. Since your time from coming you have become a better warrior, but you still maintain your fear. Daughter I understand that you fear man's world and from what you and Diana have told me I understand. I believe that it would a step forward for you to travel to man's world. You are always welcome here, but face your fears and help spread our message with Diana." Queen Hippolyta said softly.

(Wayne Manor)

Diana walked into the library where she saw her daughter holding a small pitcher album. The girl was silently crying trying her hardest not to show it. Beside her was a small stack of papers and a worn out Dungeons and Dragons rule book.

"My little star he wouldn't want you to not go on." Diana said as she knelt down near her daughter.

"What good are my powers? What good is to be strong, to be able to fly, or tame wild beasts if I couldn't save his life? He… He gave his life for me. He was able to stand against their Hawkgirl and keep up with her in battle. I was never so proud mother, but… He… Gods she ran him through. I couldn't stop it." Hippolyta said as tears escaped her.

Diana pulled her daughter into a hug and felt her crying as her daughter held her hard.

(Kent Farm – Outside of Small Ville)

Kal stood next to his father as they shoveled the snow. He looked toward the farm house when the door opened and Amber stepped out with Lois. The daughter of Wally West smiled brightly at him and waved them over to them.

"Hot chocolate's ready guys." Amber shouted and soon both father and son was there.

"So how's married life?" Lois asked her daughter – in – law.

"It's been great. Kal's already going to graduate and I should be next semester. And then we're going to take a honey moon." Amber said as she smiled at Kal.

"What do you plan on doing?" Clark asked his son.

"To be honest dad… I want to work a farm. All of my classes have focused on it. This is where I belong. I have a minor in journalism, but working the land is in my blood. I can't think of anything else I want to do." Kal said as he looked out at the land.

"That would have made your granddad smile. Pa always said that farming was in Kent's blood." Clark said before he looked out toward the direction of the cemetery.

"I miss her too sweetheart." Lois said as she thought about Martha Kent.

The woman who had taken him in, took in his wife and unborn child had finally earned her sleep last winter. Clark had walked up to her room and stepped inside. She looked like she was sleeping peacefully, but his enhanced hearing could tell that there was no heartbeat. They had laid her to rest next to his father.

"They'd both be proud." Clark said as he looked at them and smiled.


	26. Epilogue

_**AN: As was stated in the beginning of this story it is a sequel of "Last Night". To understand part of this chapter you need to read Last Night and especially the last chapter of it. Thanks…**_

_**Justice League the Next Generation**_

_**Chapter 26 'Epilogue'**_

(Watchtower – six years after the fall of Dark Justice)

Mary Grayson – West sat in the montoring womb as she finished her shift. Her eyes went to the picture of her late husband Johnny. She had loved him more than words could ever express and for the last three years she had missed him so badly. Lexington Luthor the second had implanted the nanites used to control Dark Justice into Doomboy. The killing machine created by Cadmus and made more dangerous by Area 51 had eventually healed and was simply sleeping in the bottom of the left Luthor tower. The moment it was released the creature disobeyed the order given to it by Lexington and instead headed out to kill the one that helped stop it last time.

She thought back to the day it happened. They had been in Metropolis and suddenly the creature came barreling down the road toward her. She learned later that it wanted her mother and her, but she understood that she smelled the same. To the creature it believed that it had found the enemy and tried to kill her and her daughter little Hope. She tried to stop it, but it was able to man handle her with all ease. Suddenly it stopped as something flashed past it hitting it square in the chest. It hit the creature again, and again each time causing it to stumble back stupidly.

She watched as the last time this force hit the creature it phased through it causing the creature to scream in pain and then fall forward. The figure that had been hitting the creature stopped and she looked at her husband Johnny as he stood there his entire body viberating so fast that she could barely see him.

"I love you Mary." He said before he simply blinked out of existence.

The months that followed afterward was hard and she could barely remember them. She remembered having her daughter's birthday party at a Chuckie Cheeze's and going into the rest room to cry because she couldn't answer her daughters question of why did god have to make her daddy miss the party. She remembered grandpa Bruce and grandma Diana letting her stay in the manor, but little else shined through. Little else except for her mother. Her mother Galatea had stood by her and let her know that no matter what happened she would be there for her.

"Hey what are you thinking about sis?" The familiar voice of her brother asked as she turned around to see Hermes standing behind her.

"Remembering better times." Mary answered as she got up and stretched.

"The way that you brood I wonder if you are more related to Thomas than me." Hermes joked.

"He's gotten better. Especially since he and Kiva bought 'Starlight' movies and made their first block buster." Mary replied as a small smile crossed her lips.

"So what are you doing?" Johnny asked as his sister got up and started to walk out of the room.

"I'm going out to Toni's in Metropolis, and then I'm heading back to the manor and picking up Hope. I think that she would like to see her grandma and grandpa." Mary said as she walked on out.

_You are worried about her? _M'ire said through her psychic link with Hermes.

_Of course I'm worried. She's my sister. So what are you doing? _Hermes asked.

Suddenly the flash a green skinned beauty laying in bed with silken sheets surround her could be seen. She slowly lowered the sheets and let him eye her cleavage before she pulled the sheet back over her and patted the spot beside her.

_I am waiting for you to get back. _M'ire replied through their link.

Hermes smiled and sent a mental picture of what they did the previous night and he heard her heavy, but lustful chuckle. His mind drifted a little and he could almost feel M'ire's unease.

_I'm sorry, I just worry. _He responded.

_You have every right to. She was a friend and a dear one. She has tried very, very hard to fit back in and every attempt has lead to her pushing more and more people out. It is obvious that she will never fully fit back in. She plans on killing him. She hasn't done it, but she plans on breaking into Arkham and killing Dr. Crane. _M'ire said.

_I'll inform her mom and dad. I'll also tell Grandpa Bruce. Thanks dearest. _Hermes responded before the link between M'ire and himself severed.

(Arkham Asylum – Medical Ward)

"Dr. Richards I told you that overcoming that little fear wouldn't be hard. Why you don't even seem like the same man." Scarecrow said as he laughed at the cowering man behind the desk.

He grabbed the tank of his fear gas and headed toward the ventilation system and began hooking it up with every intention of spreading it throughout the Asylum. Suddenly he stopped as a figure stepped out from the darkness. She opened her mouth and a sonic scream sent him into the wall. She stepped closer to him. Her face filled with hatred for the man before her.

"You can't kill me. You're tied to those rules that all heroes are." Crane said before she grinned and opened her mouth while holding him. At first nothing happened, but then his skin began to peal from his face. Crane screamed as his entire head began to decengrate into nothingness. Olivia dropped him and kicked the corpse of Dr. Jonathan Crane.

"I won't be afraid anymore." Olivia spat at the dead body.

(Wayne Manor – Dining Hall 3 days later)

Bruce looked at the collection of people present. It was normally under far better situations that they all met together. He could see Oliver and Dinah Queen trying to console each other, and to be honest his heart really did go out to them. The media fell on the murder of Scarecrow like a pack of vultures and several anti Meta groups was calling for the death sentence of 'Songbird'.

"The girl obviously needs help." Lara said as she stood and looked at everyone in the room.

"Tell that to those gun toting idiots. Like it or not we're not very popular and getting even less so. The fall out of Dark Justice really left a bad taste in people's mouths when they realized how easily people can be corrupted." Galatea said as she looked at the current Superwoman.

"You sound like you're not surprised." Lara committed.

"I've personally seen what people can be like when they're scared. I was brought up in Cadmus, believe me I know what people are like." She said before she looked at Dick and nodded.

"The only chance we have of helping Olivia is to make sure that she will never go back into being a hero. She can't use her powers, and she will have to know that she will be watched at all times." Dick said before the sound of Bruce clearing his throat got their attention.

"We need to realize that despite what has happened Songbird did commit murder." Bruce began when Oliver slammed his fist down on the table.

"Damn it she's my daughter! Don't you understand? She's my little girl and that bastard hurt her! I'm not saying what happened was right, but she needs help, and she doesn't need prison!" Oliver shouted.

To look at the former Green Arrow you would realize just how hurt he was. The man looked as if he had been crying and it was obvious that he hadn't slept since this happened. Dinah looked about as bad and she was unable to even really talk. Bruce once again looked at them and knew that he felt bad for them, but he had to maintain control of the situation.

"Reguardless she committed murder Oliver. There is nothing that can explain away why she took a life." Bruce said.

"What if it was our daughter Bruce? What if Hippolyta had taken the life of those two members of Dark Justice when they killed her boyfriend? Would you be so quick to say that she should have to face up to the punishment for killing?" Diana asked.

"No, but then I wouldn't ever allow her to rejoin the league and all work as a hero would stop. She would have to learn to live a 'normal' life. If 'Songbird' escapes that is what will have to happen. That and she will have to go directly into counseling. Know that she will be watched from now on Queen." Bruce said as he looked at Oliver.

"What do you think we should do?" Kiva asked as she looked at them.

"The obvious answer is that some of us do a covert operation and break her out. After we do we bring her back to the watchtower and go from there." Thomas answered as he looked at the others.

"Tonight we should do it. I would like to help if I may." M'ire said as she looked at Hermes.

She knew that it meant a lot to him to help Olivia. The girl had been his first love, and in many ways he was still tied to her. M'ire wanted to believe that the reason he was tied to her was because of his sense of loyalty. She had heard of soul mates before, and while she knew that she was close to Hermes and according to what J'onn had said about their people she was even meant for him she didn't know if he completely felt the same or not.

After a few minutes the team was decided. Both Oliver and Dinah wanted to go, but Bruce calmed them down and explained that going in so distracted like they were would only end up causing undo stress at best and could end up costing someone their life. After talking it over with Bruce the both of them decided to sit it out only as long as they could be there when Olivia arrived.

(Gotham City – Major Crimes Unit – Meta Holding Cell)

Olivia sat looking at the floor as the sound of the door to the cell opened. Slowly it closed and a graying red headed woman wheeled herself in. She looked at Olivia for a moment before she opened a laptop and quickly disabled the monitoring system inside of the cell. When she finished she backed up and closed the door.

"My father still has some pull, but I need to know a few things before I even consider doing this. What was you thinking when you went into Arkham?" Barbara asked as she looked at the younger woman.

"You don't know! You don't know what the son of a bitch did to me, to Hermes! I still see him… Every time I close my eyes I see him and hear that laugh of his. Everything that I was ever afraid of, everything that ever once caused me to step back out of fear I see every night. It's worse when I'm around Hermes and it isn't going to get any better. I don't… I don't know what he did exactly, but it's like he is inside of my head tormenting me, watching me go insane from the fear. I don't know what is real anymore." Olivia said as she hung her head in her hands.

"Crane was a sick son of a bitch, and to be honest if it was one of the other inmates that killed him there would be no news about it. No one would care, but since a 'hero' killed him everyone is saying that every life is precious including his. Listen Bruce contacted me about an hour ago. They are going to break you out of here, and when they do 'Songbird' is no more. You can't go back to being a hero. Don't think about it, and don't do it. You're going to have to walk away from this life Olivia." Barbara said as she turned the wheelchair around.

"What will happen to me?" Olivia asked.

"That depends entirely on you. You're getting a chance to make something of yourself. Don't waste it." Barbara answered before she wheeled out and pressed a single key on her laptop.

A beep sounded in the room with Olivia and a small explosion erupted from the floor. When it went off M'ire floated up through the hole and looked at the girl now standing there.

"Come we must go." M'ire said as she lead Olivia to the hole and they moved down into the sewer. The sound of people storming in over them could be heard and Olivia looked around at the friends that had gathered to save her. She watched Hermes press his communicator and call for teleportation to the Watchtower.

(Jameston New York – Grayson house – three months after 'Songbird's' escape.)

"They are a danger! All metas are a danger and should be contained! Ladies and Gentlemen I stand before you not only as a United States Senator and potential Presidential candidate, but also as a worried parent! We cannot afford to let these metas be around our children unchecked! There are metas out there with the ability to phase through walls, read minds, bend steel, fly, and a number of other abilities. Who says that they won't attempt to control our children? Who says that they won't attempt to poison our society? If we act now we can instate this meta program and be able to track each and everyone of them." The Senator on the television said to the press meeting.

"That was Senator Robert Kelly. You know Ellise he looks like the prime Republican candidate this year." A fairly good looking news ancor said as he looked at the blond sitting next to him.

"He sure is Anthony, but CEO and president of Luthor Industries Lex Luthor Jr. has thrown his hat into the race for president. Here is his statement over the subject." Ellise said as she turned toward a screen.

A red headed Lex Luthor walked up on a stage and looked over the huge numbers of press in front of him.

"Ladies and Gentlemen let me start with saying that while I understand the fear and paranoia surrounding the recent events we can't forget that these metas are human as well. They eat, breath, bleed, and dress like the rest of us. If we give into our fears here where will it end? I do agree that something must be done, and for that reason Luthor corp has started the Meta Outreach Program. This program will allow those willing to come forth to learn, work, and return to their lives in a safe environment. At no time will anyone that comes to the outreach program be numbered or their name and abilities shared with the outside world. Instead they will learn simply how to live among the rest of us in peace." Lex said as he smiled.

"I don't trust him." Galatea said as she switched off the television.

She looked at Dick who nodded and then smiled at her.

"I don't either, but at the moment it looks like he could win. He is playing a dangerous game, but appealing to the people like that will sway them easier than making it sound like they want to run a nazi prison camp." Dick replied.

Galatea walked over to him and gently sat down in his lap. She leaned her head against his shoulder and kissed his neck.

"Why can't they learn to get along like we do?" She asked softly.

"If they did there would be a lot of children running around." Dick joked.

"That's not exactly what I meant Grayson." She said with a laugh.

"People fear what they don't understand. I don't blame them, but then again I don't really pity them either. It's their own fault if they don't want to give everyone a chance. They might even find the love of their life if they did." He said as he kissed her.

Galatea smiled before she moaned softly. The feeling of his hand moving under her blouse and gently rubbing her tummy had always been kind a turn on for her. She kissed him and helped him up.

"Should we go and practice the proper 'relation' that everyone should have with each other?" She asked as she began to lead him toward their bed room.

"Sounds like a plan to me." Dick said as he followed her.

(Meta Outreach Program Metropolis)

Lex walked in to the outreach program and smiled as he watched the fools that have came in on their own free will. They were strapped to the beds their minds being altered and his own commands being fed into them. Dark Justice had failed, but only because he was so limited. No he needed an army to do his work, and who better than people no one knew. Eventually they would be ready, and president or not he would unleash them upon the public and then he would save the world from the 'meta' danger. When that happened everyone would look to him. He would be an undisputed ruler, and no one not even the Justice League would be able to stop him.


End file.
